PBOC: China's financial system operates smoothly in 2020
China's financial system operated smoothly in 2020, with major financial indicators performing in line with expectations, said Chen Yulu, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), at a press conference of China's State Council Information Office on Friday.
By Zhang Jiaqi
China's financial system operated smoothly in 2020, with major financial indicators performing in line with expectations, said Chen Yulu, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), at a press conference held by China's State Council Information Office on Friday.
Chen Yulu, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, speaks at a press conference held by China's State Council Information Office in Beijing on Jan. 15, 2021. [Photo by Xu Xiang/China SCIO]
The central bank official made the remarks citing the 2020 financial report released by the PBOC on Tuesday.
According to the report, China's broad money supply, or M2, increased 10.1% year on year by the end of 2020; RMB loans rose by 19.6 trillion yuan (US$3.03 trillion), an increase of 2.8 trillion yuan from the previous year.
Both indicators basically hit their annual targets, Chen said, adding that the PBOC provided 1.75 trillion yuan of long-term liquidity for the real economy by reducing the deposit reserve ratio three times throughout the year.
Moreover, PBOC officials said at the press conference that China's financial system met the target of saving the real economy 1.5 trillion yuan through interest rate cuts, fee reductions, and other methods. The corporate loan rates dropped to an average level of 4.61% by the end of last year from 5.12% in December 2019, the lowest since 2015.
From an industrial perspective, while offering stronger financing support to manufacturing companies and small-, medium-, and micro-sized enterprises, the PBOC also brought down the growth rate of outstanding property loans, which has now declined for 29 consecutive months. The growth rate of property loans last year was lower than those of other loans for the first time in eight years. New property loans accounted for 28% of all loans last year, falling from 44.8% in 2016.
In addition, the PBOC also granted over 6.5 trillion yuan in loans in recent five years for efforts in alleviating poverty, benefiting over 90 million poor people.
