- March new loans seen at 3.4 trln yuan vs 900 bln yuan in Feb
- March M2 growth seen at 8.9% y/y vs 9.0% y/y in Feb
- Loans, money supply data due April 10-15
BEIJING, April 9 (Reuters) - Chinese banks likely extended significantly more new loans in March than in February, according to a Reuters poll on Thursday, driven by improved credit demand and a seasonal rebound.
Banks in China are expected to have issued around 3.4 trillion yuan ($497.61 billion) in net new yuan loans last month, up sharply from the 900 billion yuan in February, based on the average estimate of 17 economists polled by Reuters.
March is typically a strong month for lending, as activity recovers after the Chinese New Year lull and banks accelerate loan issuance to meet first-quarter targets.
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The survey showed loan expectations still lower than 3.64 trillion yuan issued in March 2025.
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"Bills discounting rate has been moving sideways throughout March, indicating steady but not really strong credit demand," Citi Research said in a note.
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Last month, China's factory activity expanded at its fastest pace in a year underpinned by improved demand, official data showed.
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The Chinese central bank pledged to ramp up financial backing for domestic demand, innovation and small businesses, but has signalled no imminent broad-based rate cut.
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Goldman Sachs on Sunday dropped its call for a 10 basis-point rate cut this year, saying the central bank would only ease policy "if the growth outlook deteriorates significantly."
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Broader M2 money supply was expected to have grown 8.9% last month from a year earlier, slightly slower than the 9% in February, the poll showed.
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Outstanding yuan loans were estimated to have grown 5.9% in March from a year before, slowing from 6% growth the previous month.
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Total social financing - a broad measure of credit and liquidity - likely more than doubled to 5.4 trillion yuan in March from 2.38 trillion yuan the previous month.
($1 = 6.8327 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reporting by Shi Bu, Kevin Yao; Polling by Renusri K and Rahul Trivedi in Bengaluru and Jing Wang in Shanghai; Editing by Eileen Soreng
Source: Reuters