1. Broad money and narrow money rose by 12.7 percent and 5.1 percent respectively

At end-March, broad money supply (M2) stood at RMB281.46 trillion, increasing by 12.7 percent year on year, a deceleration of 0.2 percentage points from a month earlier but an acceleration of 3 percentage points from a year earlier. Narrow money supply (M1), at RMB67.81 trillion, rose by 5.1 percent year on year, a deceleration of 0.7 percentage points from a month earlier but an acceleration of 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier. The amount of currency in circulation (M0) was RMB10.56 trillion, rising by 11 percent year on year. The first quarter saw a net money injection of RMB96.1 billion.

2. RMB loans and foreign currency loans increased by RMB10.6 trillion and USD17.1 billion respectively in Q1

At end-March, outstanding RMB and foreign currency loans totaled RMB230.66 trillion, up 11.1 percent year on year. Outstanding RMB loans stood at RMB225.45 trillion, registering a year-on-year growth of 11.8 percent, up 0.2 percentage points from a month earlier and 0.3 percentage points from a year earlier.

In the first quarter, new RMB loans amounted to RMB10.6 trillion, increasing by RMB2.27 trillion year on year. By sector, household loans rose by RMB1.71 trillion, with short-term loans and medium and long-term (MLT) loans increasing by RMB765.3 billion and RMB944.2 billion, respectively; loans to enterprises and public institutions grew by RMB8.99 trillion, with short-term loans and MLT loans climbing by RMB3.17 trillion and RMB6.68 trillion, respectively, and bill financing falling by RMB980.3 billion; and loans to non-banking financial institutions decreased by RMB79.1 billion. In March, new RMB loans reached RMB3.89 trillion, RMB749.7 billion higher than in the same period last year.

At end-March, outstanding foreign currency loans stood at USD758.7 billion, down 19.6 percent year on year. In the first quarter, foreign currency loans grew by USD17.1 billion, USD13.4 billion lower than in the same period last year. In March, foreign currency loans increased by USD18.1 billion, compared with a decline of USD12.5 billion in the same period last year.

3. RMB deposits and foreign currency deposits rose by RMB15.39 trillion and USD57.6 billion respectively in Q1

At end-March, the outstanding amount of RMB and foreign currency deposits was RMB280.17 trillion, up 12.2 percent year on year. RMB deposits recorded an outstanding amount of RMB273.91 trillion, rising by 12.7 percent year on year, up 0.3 percentage points from a month earlier and 2.7 percentage points from a year earlier.

In the first quarter, RMB deposits increased by RMB15.39 trillion, an expansion of RMB4.54 trillion year on year. Specifically, household deposits, deposits of non-financial enterprises, fiscal deposits and deposits of non-banking financial institutions rose by RMB9.9 trillion, RMB3.18 trillion, RMB297.4 billion and RMB798.7 billion, respectively. In March, RMB deposits increased by RMB5.71 trillion, exceeding that recorded a year earlier by RMB1.22 trillion.

At end-March, the outstanding amount of foreign currency deposits was USD911.5 billion, down 12.9 percent year on year. In the first quarter, foreign currency deposits increased by USD57.6 billion, USD8.2 billion higher than in the same period last year. In March, foreign currency deposits rose by USD28.8 billion, compared with a fall of USD7.5 billion in the same period last year.

4. The monthly weighted average interest rates for interbank RMB lending and bond pledged repos stood at 1.7 percent and 1.85 percent respectively in March

In the first quarter, lending, cash bond and repo transactions in the interbank RMB market totaled RMB452.13 trillion, with the daily average increasing by 17 percent year on year to RMB7.41 trillion per day. Specifically, the average daily turnovers of interbank lending, cash bond trading and pledged repo trading climbed by 6.7 percent, 5.3 percent and 20.8 percent year on year, respectively.

In March, the monthly weighted average interest rate for interbank lending stood at 1.7 percent, down 0.22 percentage points month on month and 0.37 percentage points year on year. The monthly weighted average interest rate for pledged repos was 1.85 percent, down 0.22 percentage points month on month and 0.23 percentage points year on year.

5. Official foreign exchange reserves stood at USD3.18 trillion

At end-March, China’s foreign exchange reserves stood at USD3.18 trillion, and the USD/CNY exchange rate was 6.8717.

6. RMB cross-border settlement under the current account reached RMB2.89 trillion and RMB cross-border settlement of direct investment posted RMB1.73 trillion in Q1

In the first quarter, RMB cross-border settlement under the current account reached RMB2.89 trillion, including RMB2.24 trillion in settlement of trade in goods and RMB0.65 trillion in settlement of trade in services and other current account items. RMB cross-border settlement of direct investment amounted to RMB1.73 trillion, of which ODI and FDI posted RMB0.54 trillion and RMB1.19 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.