The FINANCIAL — China's lending growth is likely to be slightly faster than last year's, with new yuan loans "not less than last year's CNY7.47 trillion," said an official from China's banking regulator Monday.
"Banks still have pressure to raise funds this year," Yan Qingmin, assistant chairman at the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the National People's Congress, China's legislature.
According to London Stock Exchange, Yan added that CBRC has asked banks to be more accommodative in their lending to support the construction of low-cost housing after Beijing's two-year crackdown on the overheated property sector.
Yan also said a reduction in China's official growth target to 7.5% this year from 8% previously, announced by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in a speech earlier Monday, is a good guide, especially for local governments that have been striving to achieve annual growth of more than 10%.
The largely symbolic official growth target had been held at 8% for each of the past seven years. The reduction this year is a widely expected move that indicates the government's willingness to accept slower growth in exchange for more balanced and sustainable development.
Yan said he expects China's actual GDP growth to exceed the 7.5% target this year.
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