China’s new bank loans for September expected to rise: Poll
BEIJING: China's new bank loans likely rose last month but other key gauges of credit growth remained lacklustre, a Reuters poll showed.
It reinforced expectations that Beijing needs to deliver more support to stabilise the economy as trade pressures build.
Chinese regulators have been trying to boost bank lending and lower corporate financing costs for over a year, but the pick-up in loan growth has been modest compared with previous rounds of stimulus, and economic activity has continued to slow.
Analysts said the problem is not a lack of credit but weakening business and consumer confidence as the US-China trade war drags on.
Chinese banks are expected to have issued 1.4 trillion yuan (S$270 billion) in net new yuan loans last month, up 16 per cent from 1.21 trillion yuan in August. But it is largely in line with the tally in September last year, according to a median estimate in a Reuters survey of 30 economists.
In a bid to boost bank lending, the central bank has pumped out trillions of yuan in liquidity by repeatedly cutting banks' reserve requirement ratios since early last year.
But despite repeated calls by regulators to help struggling smaller private companies, banks have been reluctant to lend as such companies are considered bigger credit risks.
Some factory managers said they have lost financing or had their credit lines sharply cut back. - REUTERS
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