BEIJING, Sept. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- China's financial sector saw a faster growth in money supply and a stable exchange rate in August, according to the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank.

　　Statistics released Thursday by the PBOC show that by the end of August, outstanding broad money (M2) was 21.06 trillion yuan (2.54 trillion US dollars), up 21.6 percent from a year ago, representing the biggest year-on-year growth since May 1997.

　　Outstanding narrow money (M1) was 7.7 trillion yuan (927.71 billion dollars), increasing 18.8 percent over the same month lastyear.

　　The growth of M2 was 12.8 percentage points more than China's year-on-year gross domestic product increase and consumer price index hike for the first six months, showing that the country's money supply was on the fast side, the PBOC said.

　　By the end of August, outstanding Renminbi (RMB) loans of all kinds reached 15.3 trillion yuan (1.84 trillion dollars), up 23.9 percent. Loans in August reached 280.8 billion yuan (33.83 billiondollars).

　　Outstanding RMB and foreign currency deposits reached 21.01 trillion yuan (2.53 trillion dollars) in all Chinese financial institutions, increasing 20.9 percent, of which corporate depositswere 7.13 trillion yuan (859.04 billion dollars), a rise of 21.2 percent.

　　The exchange rate of the RMB was 8.2771 for one US dollar at the end of August, remaining basically stable.

　　A spokesman for the PBOC said the central bank would continue to pursue a stable monetary policy, keep the RMB stable and explore and improve the RMB exchange rate mechanism. Enditem