Southern Metropolis Daily:

The PBC recently released data on the scale of social financing in the first half of 2023. Could you please explain the characteristics of the current structure of social financing? Thank you.

Ruan Jianhong:

Thank you for the question. As of the end of June, the balance of the social financing scale stood at 365.45 trillion yuan, marking a year-on-year increase of 9%. This is a 0.5 percentage point lower than the end of the previous month and 1.9 percentage points lower than the same period last year. In the first half of the year, the increase in the social financing scale was 21.55 trillion yuan, which is 475.4 billion yuan more than the same period last year. From a structural perspective, we can observe the following characteristics:

First, there has been a surge in RMB loans issued to the real economy. In the first half of the year, RMB loans issued to the real economy increased by 15.6 trillion yuan, a rise of 1.99 trillion yuan compared to the same period last year.

Second, off-balance sheet financing has recovered, with significant increases in trust loans and undiscounted bank acceptance bills. In the first half of the year, off-balance-sheet financing rose by 182.3 billion yuan, an increase of 739.6 billion yuan compared to the same period last year. Among them, trust loans grew by 22.8 billion yuan, and undiscounted bank acceptance bills increased by 85.2 billion yuan, a rise of 398 billion yuan and 261.9 billion yuan, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

Third, there has been a decrease in net financing for government bonds. In the first half of this year, net financing for government bonds stood at 3.38 trillion yuan, a decrease of 1.27 trillion yuan compared to the same period last year. Among these, net financing for national bonds was 930.5 billion yuan, an increase of 303.7 billion yuan compared to the same period last year, whereas net financing for local government bonds was 2.45 trillion yuan, a decrease of 1.58 trillion yuan compared to the same period last year. The decrease in net financing for local government bonds is primarily related to the pace of issuance. The issuance of local government bonds was faster during the same period last year, thus resulting in a higher base.

Fourth, there has been a significant decrease in direct financing by enterprises, primarily due to a drop in net financing for corporate bonds. In the first half of the year, net financing for corporate bonds was 1.17 trillion yuan, a decrease of 788.3 billion yuan compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, domestic stock financing for non-financial enterprises amounted to 459.6 billion yuan, a decrease of 43.2 billion yuan compared to the same period the previous year. However, a marginal improvement in market financing was observed in June. In that month, net financing for corporate bonds was 222.1 billion yuan, a decrease of 12.5 billion yuan compared to the same period last year. The extent of the reduction was notably reduced. At the same time, domestic stock financing for non-financial enterprises reached 70 billion yuan, showing an increase of 11.1 billion yuan compared to the same period last year. Thank you.