China's money supply continued to grow in February, reported the People's Bank of China (PBOC) on Monday.

 

By the end of February, the broad measure of the money supply, M2, which covers cash in circulation and all deposits, went up 17.8 percent year-on-year to 35.9 trillion yuan.

 

Statistics released by the central bank said the newly-added RMB-denominated deposits in February amounted to 527.1 billion yuan, 92.9 billion yuan more than the same month last year.

 

By the end of February, the narrow measure of the money supply, or M1, was 12.6 trillion yuan, up 21 percent.

 

M1 is an antecedent index for a country's economic performance, reflecting the change in the amount of money in the hands of residents and enterprises, while M2 shows the demand of the whole of society and indicates possible inflation.

 

Bank figures also indicated that the outstanding renminbi-dominated deposits had risen 16 percent year-on-year by the end of February to 34.5 trillion yuan.

 

The outstanding renminbi-dominated loans amounted to 23.5 trillion yuan in February, a rise of 17.2 percent.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2007)