China 's Finance Shows a Vigorous Development

Foreign Exchange Reserve Hits US$156.8 Billion by the end of last March.

As informed from the People's Bank of China the first quarter of this year saw China's financial performance in a steady balance, showing the momentum of a vigorous development, i.e. the growth of currency supply was by and large in conformity with the development of economy, enterprises' bank deposits increased sharply, the issuance of loans by financial institutions was speeding up and the foreign exchange reserve grew steadily, hitting US$156.82 billion by the end of last March, 2.15 billion more than that at the end of last year.

The financial statistical data show that by the end of March, the balance of broad-sense currency supply (M2) was 12258.06 billion yuan, a growth of 13% as compared to the same period of last year. That of currency amount in its narrow-sense (M1) was 4515.84 billion yuan, an increase by 18.7%; the balance of cash in circulation (M0) was 1323.54 billion yuan, a rise by 16.7% and the accumulated net cash withdrawal from circulation in the first quarter accounted for 22.01 billion yuan, 35.76 billion yuan over that of the same period of last year.

Experts believe that taking the growth of money supply at various levels into account, the good situation of cash (M0) withdrawn from circulation is due to the steady pickup of market sales and the resumption of growth in savings since the beginning of this year and the citizens' weakening motive to have cash in hand; the speeding up of the growth of M1 reflects further strengthening of currency circulation and the increase in demand on currency by enterprises in a short period. In spite of the somewhat drop of M2 growth, the overall broad-sense money supply is largely in line with the current growth of economy and price level.

During the first quarter, the saving balance of all financial institutions amounted to 11232.02 billion yuan, a rise of 13%. By the end of March, the balance of savings of urban and rural residents was 6249.23 billion yuan, a rise by 8.1%. The total increase in deposits in the first quarter was 313.66 billion yuan, an obvious pickup as against the fourth quarter of last year but in a low growth rate.



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