China's bank lending declined sharply in October as demand slowed amid property market downturn and weaker economic activity, data published by the People's Bank of China showed on Thursday.
Banks extended CNY 615.2 billion in new yuan loans in October compared to CNY 2.47 trillion in September. Lending was forecast to fall moderately to CNY 800 billion. Total social financing, a broad measure of credit and liquidity in the economy, decreased significantly to CNY 907.9 billion from CNY 3.53 trillion in September. This was also well below economists' forecast of CNY 1.6 trillion.
Data showed that broad M2 money supply increased 11.8 percent annually, slower than the 12.1 percent growth in September. M2 was forecast to climb 12.0 percent.
