The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, said Tuesday that new yuan-denominated lending stood at 1.04 trillion yuan (157.72 billion U.S. dollars) in January.

The figure was 318.2 billion yuan less than January last year, said a statement on the PBOC website.

By the end of January, the balance of outstanding yuan-denominated loans stood at 48.35 trillion yuan, up 18.5 percent from a year earlier. The rise was 10.8 percentage points lower than the rise a year earlier.

China's broad money supply (M2), which covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 17.2 percent year on year to 73.56 trillion yuan by the end of January. The rise was 8.9 percentage points lower than the same period last year.

The narrow measure of money supply (M1), cash in circulation plus current corporate deposits, climbed 13.6 percent from a year earlier to 26.31 trillion yuan, said the statement.