BEIJING, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank reaffirmed on Wednesday it
will stick to its moderately easy monetary policy to consolidate the country's
economic recovery.
The bank also said it would use market tools to guide appropriate lending
growth during the second half of this year.
The major task was to continue fostering steady economic growth by
maintaining credit policy continuity and stability as the economy was in a
crucial phase, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in its second quarter
monetary policy report Wednesday.
China's economy expanded 7.9 percent from a year earlier during the
quarter, up from 6.1 percent in the first three months, boosted by governmental
fiscal and monetary policies put into place last year.
Chinese banks advanced a record 7.37 trillion yuan (1.08 trillion U.S.
dollars) in new loans during the first half of the year, exceeding the full year
target of 5 trillion yuan.
The PBOC said new loans to home buyers in the first half rose by 263.3
billion yuan year on year to 479.3 billion yuan, boosted by an upbeat property
market performance in China in the first half.
Home sales began to pick up after the Spring Festival and prices have edged
upward in recent months in most of China's large and medium-sized cities.
New credit growth for property developers increased by 221 billion yuan
year on year to 403.9 billion yuan.
"Although there are signs of stabilization in the economies of the United
States, Europe and Japan, their ups and downs of the economies will not end in
the short term," said the PBOC. China's exports growth is also expected to slow.
Government figures show Chinese exports plummeted 21.8 percent to 521.5
billion U.S. dollars through the January-June period year on year, the sharpest
decrease in a decade after global demand for China's goods slowed.
The bank said domestic, export-oriented enterprises should improve their
products mix and competitiveness and work on opening up emerging export markets
that have big growth potential.
