China will use M2, a benchmark index that quantifies the amount of money in circulation, instead of new yuan-dominated loans, to measure the country's credit growth in 2011, Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission said Sunday.

Although different tools will be used to measure lending volume, the target "remains almost the same as last year's," Liu said.

Liu also said that, at some point in the future, China may switch to a new measure called "total national financing" to help manage its monetary policy.

Total national financing, a term introduced by China's central bank in February, is seen as a more accurate measure of total credit volume.

China's business press carried the story above on Monday. China.org.cn has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.