MIL-OSI China: Financial Statistics Report (March 2024)

1. Broad money rose by 8.3 percent

At end-March, broad money supply (M2) stood at RMB304.8 trillion, increasing by 8.3 percent year on year. Narrow money supply (M1), at RMB68.58 trillion, rose by 1.1 percent year on year. The amount of currency in circulation (M0) was RMB11.72 trillion, an increase of 11 percent year on year. The first quarter saw a net money injection of RMB376.6 billion.

2. RMB loans grew by RMB9.46 trillion in Q1

At end-March, outstanding RMB and foreign currency loans totaled RMB251.81 trillion, up 9.2 percent year on year. Outstanding RMB loans stood at RMB247.05 trillion, registering a year-on-year growth of 9.6 percent.

In the first quarter, new RMB loans reached RMB9.46 trillion. By sector, household loans increased by RMB1.33 trillion, with short-term loans and medium and long-term (MLT) loans rising by RMB356.8 billion and RMB975 billion, respectively; loans to enterprises and public institutions grew by RMB7.77 trillion, with short-term loans and MLT loans increasing by RMB2.97 trillion and RMB6.2 trillion, respectively, and bill financing decreasing by RMB1.5 trillion; and loans to non-banking financial institutions climbed by RMB233.6 billion.

At end-March, outstanding foreign currency loans stood at USD670.3 billion, down 11.7 percent year on year. In the first quarter, foreign currency loans rose by USD14 billion.

3. RMB deposits increased by RMB11.24 trillion in Q1

At end-March, the outstanding amount of RMB and foreign currency deposits was RMB301.41 trillion, up 7.6 percent year on year. RMB deposits recorded an outstanding amount of RMB295.51 trillion, rising by 7.9 percent year on year.

In the first quarter, RMB deposits increased by RMB11.24 trillion. Specifically, household deposits, deposits of non-financial enterprises and deposits of non-banking financial institutions rose by RMB8.56 trillion, RMB222.5 billion and RMB1.56 trillion, respectively, while fiscal deposits dropped by RMB285.5 billion.

At end-March, the outstanding amount of foreign currency deposits was USD832.6 billion, down 8.7 percent year on year. In the first quarter, foreign currency deposits increased by USD34.7 billion.

4. The monthly weighted average interest rates for interbank RMB lending and bond pledged repos stood at 1.88 percent and 1.91 percent respectively in March

In the first quarter, lending, cash bond and repo transactions in the interbank RMB market totaled RMB541.9 trillion, with the daily average increasing by 19.9 percent year on year to RMB8.88 trillion. Specifically, the average daily turnover of interbank lending fell by 20.2 percent year on year, while those of cash bond trading and pledged repo trading rose by 46.6 percent and 18.5 percent year on year, respectively.

In March, the monthly weighted average interest rate for interbank lending stood at 1.88 percent, up 0.03 percentage points month on month and 0.18 percentage points year on year. The monthly weighted average interest rate for pledged repos was 1.91 percent, up 0.02 percentage points month on month and 0.06 percentage points year on year.

5. Official foreign exchange reserves stood at USD3.25 trillion

At end-March, China’s foreign exchange reserves stood at USD3.25 trillion, and the USD/CNY exchange rate was 7.0950.

6. RMB cross-border settlement under the current account reached RMB3.72 trillion and RMB cross-border settlement of direct investment posted RMB1.97 trillion in Q1

In the first quarter, RMB cross-border settlement under the current account reached RMB3.72 trillion, including RMB2.9 trillion in settlement of trade in goods and RMB0.82 trillion in settlement of trade in services and other current account items. RMB cross-border settlement of direct investment amounted to RMB1.97 trillion, of which ODI and FDI posted RMB0.65 trillion and RMB1.32 trillion, respectively.

Notes:

1. Data for the current period are preliminary.

2. Starting from 2015, deposits of non-banking financial institutions have been included in RMB deposits, foreign currency deposits and deposits in RMB and foreign currencies, while lending to non-banking financial institutions has been included in RMB loans, foreign currency loans and loans in RMB and foreign currencies.

3. “Loans to enterprises and public institutions” in this report refers to loans to non-financial enterprises, government agencies and organizations.

4. Starting from December 2022, e-CNY in circulation has been included in the amount of currency in circulation (M0). At end-December, e-CNY in circulation stood at RMB13.61 billion. The revision has not caused notable changes to month-end M1 or M2 growth rates of 2022. Shown below are the revised M0 growth rates.

5. Starting from January 2023, the People’s Bank of China has incorporated into the coverage of financial statistics three types of non-depository banking financial institutions, i.e., consumer finance companies, wealth management companies and financial asset investment companies. At end-January 2023, loans issued by the three types of institutions recorded an outstanding balance of RMB841 billion, posting an increase of RMB5.7 billion for the month, while their deposits registered an outstanding amount of RMB22.2 billion, rising by RMB2.7 billion over the month. All the statistics in this report are provided on a comparable basis.