China's new bank loans increased again last month, in a sign that the government is not easing off on the substantial stimulus it has injected into the economy to revive growth.
The central bank said yesterday that new bank lending was Rmb517bn ($76bn, €51bn, £47bn) last month, up from Rmb410bn in August and well ahead of analysts' forecasts, bringing total new lending so far this year to Rmb8,650bn, a 149 per cent increase on the year before.
Although the pace of new loans has declined from the hectic activity of the first few months of the year, when banks in China typically concentrate much of their lending, it is still well ahead of the same time in previous years.