Chinese bank lending and foreign exchange reserves declined at the end of 2014, data from the People's Bank of China revealed Thursday.
Bank lending fell to CNY 697.3 billion in December from CNY 852.7 billion in November. It was also below the expected lending of CNY 890 billion.
The fall in net new loans reflects the usual seasonal pattern, with the amount of loans issued typically lowest at the end of the year, Julian Evans-Pritchard, a China economist at Capital Economics said.
Total social financing, a broad measure of liquidity in the economy, totaled CNY 1.69 trillion compared to CNY 1.15 trillion in November.
China's broad M2 money supply grew 12.2 percent in December, slower than the 12.3 percent rise in November. Economists had forecast an annual growth of 12.5 percent.
Foreign exchange reserves declined to $3.84 trillion at the end of fourth quarter from $3.89 trillion in the prior quarter.
This does not mean that the PBoC sold large amounts of foreign exchange last quarter, Evans-Pritchard, an economist at Capital Economics said. Instead, the fall in reserves reflects currency fluctuations, which will have lowered the dollar value of the portion of the reserves held in euro and yen.
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