China's finance sector performed well last month, the central bank said yesterday.

Money supply, a key indicator of the financial industry's support to economic growth, continued to expand at a double-digit rate in April, as in the first quarter, the People's Bank of China said in its monthly report.

M2, the broadest measurement of money supply that includes cash in circulation and all types of deposits, last month grew by 19.2 per cent on a year-on-year basis, as compared to 18.5 per cent registered at the end of March.

However, M1, a narrower measurement that can be obtained by deducting enterprises' time deposit from M2, grew by 18.1 per cent, as compared to 20.1 per cent in March. The central bank said the slow-down was mainly because the growth in enterprises' demand deposits -- a key part of M1 -- had slowed.

But the growth rate of both M1 and M2 were well above the central bank's targets for all of 2003 -- 16 per cent for both indicators.

The central bank said in the report that the money supply figures indicated enterprises "have sufficient financial support.''

Central bank govnernor Zhou Xiaochuan said earlier this year that financial authorities will this year try to use sophisticated instruments more frequently and skilfully in influencing money supply to help the nation achive its economic growth target of 7 per cent.

The growth rate for private savings dipped last month.

At the end of April, private individuals' outstanding deposits totalled 10 trillion yuan (US$1.2 billion). Deposits grew by 18.4 per cent annually, compared to 19.1 per cent at the end of last month.

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