Loans outdid deposits in growth rate between January and March in Shanghai, the largest financial hub in east China, due partly to a downward trend of corporate deposits and a robust domestic capital market.

According to the Shanghai Branch of the People's Bank of China,the central bank, Chinese and foreign-funded financial institutions in the city recorded 1,396.8 billion yuan (168.29 billion US dollars) in loans outstanding at the end of March, 79 billion yuan (9.52 billion US dollars) more than the level at the beginning of the year, or a year-on-year growth of 23.4 percent.

Their deposits outstanding at the end of the month stood at 1,782.2 billion yuan (214.72 billion US dollars), 47.7 billion yuan (5.75 billion US dollars) more than the year's beginning level, ora growth of 20.9 percent over the year-earlier level.

The total loans outstanding included 1,178.7 billion yuan by the Chinese financial institutions, a year-on-year increase of 20.6 percent; while the total deposits outstanding included 1,573.7 billion yuan (189.6 billion US dollars) by the domestic institutions, up 22.8 percent.

In the first quarter, the financial institutions made 49.9 billion yuan (6.01 billion US dollars) in longer-term loans, or 63percent of the total loans extended during the three months.

However, corporate deposits at the Chinese financial institutions went down by 2.98 billion yuan (359.04 million US dollars), while savings deposits rose at a slower rate, in part asa result from a resurrection on the domestic capital market, industry experts say.

Source: Xinhua