Chinese bank lending grew strongly in November, led by strong demand for home loans, figures from the central bank showed Wednesday.
New loans extended by the Chinese banks totaled CNY 794.6 billion versus CNY 651.3 billion in October, figures from the People's Bank of China showed. Economists had forecast CNY 720 billion lending for November.
The broad M2 money supply grew 11.4 percent year-on-year following 11.6 percent gain in the previous month. Economists had forecast 11.5 percent increase.
The total social financing, which is a broad measure of credit, climbed to CNY 1.74 trillion from CNY 896.3 billion in the previous month. Economists had forecast CNY 1.5 trillion.
Medium and long-term household loans totaled CNY 569.2 billion in November, accounting for just more than 71 percent of total new lending.
"The big picture is that, after accelerating from mid-2015 onwards and peaking in April of this year, credit growth has since been edging down," Capital Economics economist Julian Evans-Pritchard said.
"Today's data does little to alter this broader trend and we therefore doubt it will elicit a major policy response."
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