China's new yuan loans rise in May

BEIJING - China's new yuan-denominated lending in May stood at 985.5 billion yuan ($149 billion), 84.7 billion yuan more than May last year, official data showed Wednesday.

The figure was significantly up from 555.6 billion yuan in April, but was lower than a monthly average of 1.5 trillion yuan in the first quarter, the People's Bank of China said in a statement.

Total yuan loans at the end of May rose 14.4 percent to 100.1 trillion yuan, the same pace as that one month ago, according to the statement.

M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, rose 11.8 percent year on year to 146.17 trillion yuan at the end of May, according to the People's Bank of China website.

The narrow measure of money supply (M1), which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, rose 23.7 percent year on year to 42.43 trillion yuan, the statement said.

Newly-added social financing, a measurement of funds that non-financial firms and households get from the financial system, was 659.9 billion yuan in May, down by about 580 billion yuan from the same period last year.