China's new yuan loans drop in February, M2 growth stable

BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- China's new yuan-denominated loans in February stood at 839.3 billion yuan (about 132.3 billion U.S. dollars), 326.4 billion yuan less than the same period a year earlier, central bank data showed Friday.

The M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, reached 172.91 trillion yuan at the end of February, up 8.8 percent year on year, compared with an 8.6-percent increase a month earlier, the People's Bank of China said in a statement.

The narrower measure of money supply (M1), which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, rose 8.5 percent year on year to 51.7trillion yuan at the end of February. The growth rate was 12.9 percentage points down from a year ago.