China's May lending seen tripling on monetary measures, trade truce
BEIJING, June 9 (Reuters) - China's new yuan loans more than tripled in May compared with a month ago, matching the borrowing appetite in the same period last year, as a temporary trade truce between China and the United States and new government measures helped boost credit demand.
Chinese banks are estimated to have issued 850 billion yuan ($118.27 billion) in net new yuan loans last month, according to 18 economists polled by Reuters. April saw 280 billion yuan loans distributed.
In mid-May, China and the United States struck a 90-day truce in their bruising tariff war and rolled back most of the triple-digit levies they heaped on each other's goods in early April.
Adding to the positive sentiment was Beijing's raft of monetary easing measures last month including interest rate cuts and a major liquidity injection, though Citi Research analysts said the steps may not make an immediate impact on credit demand.
"Bills discount rate stayed low in May, and we expect new RMB loans at RMB900 billion, largely in line with last May's level," Citi Research said in a note last week.
New yuan loans in May are typically higher than in April as banks begin work to reach their quarterly loan targets.
Factory activity at the world's largest manufacturing hub contracted for a second month in May, as trade tensions with the United States remain high and speculation mounts Beijing would roll out further stimulus measures to underpin economic growth.
Adding to the external headwinds, frail domestic demand remains a major drag on the world's second-largest economy as households grapple with income pressure and keep a tight leash on spending.
A phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday kept the lid on tensions but left key trade issues such as Beijing's control on rare earth exports and Washington's curbs on chip-related exports to further talks set to take place in London later on Monday.
Broad M2 money supply, which measures cash in circulation, and a set of deposits including time deposits to corporates plus household savings, is expected to have increased 8.1% last month, up from the 8.0% in April.
Outstanding yuan loans in May were seen matching the pace of growth in April at 7.2% from a year earlier, according to the poll.
A broad measure of credit and liquidity that is Total Social Financing (TSF) likely grew to 2.3 trillion yuan in May from 1.16 trillion yuan in April, the poll showed. Any acceleration in government bond issuance could help boost growth in TSF.
The measure includes off-balance-sheet forms of financing that exist outside the conventional bank lending system, such as initial public offerings, loans from trust companies and bond sales.
($1 = 7.1871 Chinese yuan renminbi)
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