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    BEIJING, May 16 -- The total value of China's outstanding loans topped 22.21 trillion yuan (US$2.78 billion) at end of April, up nearly 15 percent from the year before, China's central bank said yesterday.

    The figure represents a 2.3 percentage point rise over the increase for the previous year.

    Yuan-denominated loans grew 317.2 billion yuan in April, 175 billion yuan more than in the same period a year earlier.

    Meanwhile, M2, the broadest measure of money supply, gained 18.9 percent year-on-year to 31.37 trillion yuan at the end of March, the central bank said. The growth rate was 4.8 percentage points higher than last year's figure.

    Chinese banks approved 1.26 trillion yuan in yuan-denominated loans during the first three months, a year-on-year rise of 70 percent. The loans account for more than half of PBOC's full-year target of 2.5 trillion yuan.

    The central bank said it will control lending to over-invested industries and encourage bank loans to the economy's weaker segments.

    High fixed-asset investment growth in the first three months was another major growth driver, the central bank said. FAI, including investment in factories and infrastructure, jumped 27.7 percent in the quarter, outpacing a full-year target of 18 percent.

    The central bank is using interest rates hikes to curb rising credit. The benchmark rate for one-year loans grew to 5.85 percent from 5.58 percent on April 28. The six-month rate rose 0.28 percentage points, and other lending rates gained 0.27 points.

    The central bank said that it will closely watch the effects of its monetary policies to promote reasonable credit growth in the country.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)