Bankers less optimistic on Chinese economy

BEIJING - Bankers and entrepreneurs' confidence in the Chinese economy decreased in the second quarter of 2013, showed central bank survey results released on Friday.

The index produced by the People's Bank of China's (PBOC) survey of 3,100 banking institutions found banker confidence declined 8.1 percentage points to 64.1 percent from the first quarter.

A separate survey of 5,000 entrepreneurs showed the index measuring their confidence in the national economy declined 4.2 percentage points from the previous quarter to 63.8 percent.

Some 61.5 percent of the bankers surveyed believed the macro-economy is operating at a "normal" level, and the figure was 7.4 percentage points lower compared with the first quarter. About 34.1 percent of them said the macro-economic operation is "relatively cool," up 8.8 percentage points from the first quarter.

Meanwhile, the index reflecting companies' profits rose 2.8 percentage points to 55.6 percent, 3 percentage points higher than the same period of last year, the PBOC said.

A separate survey of 20,000 depositors showed the index reflecting employment outlook in the second quarter stood at 48.2 percent, which was 3.8 percentage points lower than the previous quarter and 0.7 percentage points lower compared with one year earlier.