(PBOC), the central bank, show that in the first three quarters of this year, China's financial industry operated smoothly with a number of indicators growing faster.
According to the PBOC, by the end of September, outstanding broad money (M2) was 17.7 trillion yuan (about US$2.14 trillion), up 16.5 percent from the same period last year. Outstanding narrow money (M1) stood at 6.7 trillion yuan, up 15.9 percent, while money in circulation was 1.62 trillion yuan, up 7.8percent.
At the same time, outstanding deposits in both RMB and foreign exchanges totaled 17.77 trillion yuan, increasing 2.3 trillion yuan over the beginning of the year. Corporate deposits in RMB amounted to 5.69 trillion yuan, up 15.9 percent, while private savings deposits reached 8.41 trillion yuan, up 18.1 percent.
Outstanding loans totaled 12.64 trillion yuan, increasing 14.2 percent in constant terms. The quality of loans saw clear improvement, with the amount of non-performing loans down 4.9 billion yuan and the rate down 3.3 percentage points from the beginning of the year.
At the end of September, the state's foreign exchange reserves reached US$258.6 billion, increasing US$46.5 billion. The exchange rate of the RMB to the US dollar remained basically stable at 8.2771 yuan.
(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2002)
