China's money supply continued to grow in February, reported the
People's Bank of China (PBOC) on Monday.
By the end of February, the broad measure of the money supply,
M2, which covers cash in circulation and all deposits, went up 17.8
percent year-on-year to 35.9 trillion yuan.
Statistics released by the central bank said the newly-added
RMB-denominated deposits in February amounted to 527.1 billion
yuan, 92.9 billion yuan more than the same month last year.
By the end of February, the narrow measure of the money supply,
or M1, was 12.6 trillion yuan, up 21 percent.
M1 is an antecedent index for a country's economic performance,
reflecting the change in the amount of money in the hands of
residents and enterprises, while M2 shows the demand of the whole
of society and indicates possible inflation.
Bank figures also indicated that the outstanding
renminbi-dominated deposits had risen 16 percent year-on-year by
the end of February to 34.5 trillion yuan.
The outstanding renminbi-dominated loans amounted to 23.5
trillion yuan in February, a rise of 17.2 percent.
(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2007)