OREANDA-NEWS. November 26, 2012. According to preliminary statistics of the PBC, at end-September 2012, the outstanding amount of RMB loans by all financial institutions stood at 61.51 trillion yuan, posting a yoy growth of 16.3 percent. In Q1-Q3, outstanding RMB loans increased by 6.72 trillion yuan, up 1.04 trillion yuan yoy. The uses of loans in Q1-Q3 have the following features:

1.     Short-term enterprise loans and bill financing increased yoy and fixed asset loans saw sustained pickup in growth

At end-September, the outstanding balance of RMB and foreign currency loans extended by all financial institutions to enterprises and other sectors reached 48.64 trillion yuan, rising by 15.8 percent yoy, up 0.2 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. The increase in Q1-Q3 posted 5.18 trillion yuan, up 1.21 trillion yuan yoy.

By loan term, medium and long-term (MLT) RMB and foreign currency loans extended by financial institutions to enterprises and other sectors grew by 1.46 trillion yuan in Q1-Q3, down 311.7 billion yuan yoy, and the outstanding amount posted 25.65 trillion yuan at end-September, rising by 8.1 percent yoy, up 0.2 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter; short-term loans and bill financing increased by 3.53 trillion yuan, up 1.44 trillion yuan yoy, and the outstanding amount posted 22.35 trillion yuan at end-September, rising by 25.1 percent yoy, down 0.2 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter.

By loan use, at end-September, fixed asset loans in RMB and foreign currencies extended by financial institutions to enterprises and other sectors recorded an outstanding balance of 20.74 trillion yuan, rising by 10.9 percent yoy, an acceleration of 0.6 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter; business loans recorded an outstanding balance of 21.69 trillion yuan, up 14 percent yoy, a deceleration of 0.8 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter.

2.     Growth of micro and small enterprise (MSE) loans continued to pick up pace

At end-September, enterprise loans extended by major financial institutions,[1] major rural financial institutions,[2] city credit unions and foreign-funded banks posted an outstanding balance of 39.53 trillion yuan, representing a yoy growth of 15.7 percent. Specifically, outstanding MSE loans[3] registered 11.29 trillion yuan, rising by 20.7 percent yoy. The growth rate was 5 percentage points higher than total enterprise loan growth, surpassing that of loans to large enterprises and to medium enterprises in the same period by 9.9 and 4 percentage points respectively. At end-September, outstanding MSE loans accounted for 28.6 percent of total enterprise loans outstanding, up 0.4 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. RMB loans to enterprises increased by 3.86 trillion yuan in Q1-Q3. Specifically, MSE loans grew by 1.35 trillion yuan, representing 35 percent of total enterprise loan growth in the same period, up 0.6 percentage points from the January-August period.

3.     MLT loans to the light industry rebounded and MLT loans to the service sector grew at faster pace

At end-September, MLT industrial loans4 in RMB and foreign currencies issued by major financial institutions posted an outstanding balance of 6.34 trillion yuan, rising by 5.1 percent yoy, down 0.7 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. The increase in Q1-Q3 registered 238.3 billion yuan, down 188.7 billion yuan yoy. Specifically, outstanding MLT loans to the light industry stood at 651.9 billion yuan, rising by 6 percent yoy, 2.4 percentage points higher than that recorded at the end of the previous quarter; outstanding MLT loans to the heavy industry stood at 5.69 trillion yuan, rising by 5 percent yoy, a deceleration of 1.2 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter.

At end-September, MLT loans to the service sector posted an outstanding balance of 15.75 trillion yuan, rising by 8.1 percent yoy, an acceleration of 0.7 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. Specifically, outstanding MLT loans to water conservancy, environment and public facilities management industries increased by 0.4 percent, up 0.4 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter; outstanding loans to transport, warehousing and postal industries rose by 16.3 percent yoy, a deceleration of 0.4 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter.

4.     Loans to agriculture, rural areas and farmers bounced back across the board

At end-September, RMB and foreign currency loans to rural areas issued by major financial institutions, major rural financial institutions, city credit unions, village and township banks and finance companies recorded an outstanding balance of 14.1 trillion yuan, rising by 21 percent yoy, up 0.2 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. The increase in Q1-Q3 registered 1.96 trillion yuan, up 204.1 billion yuan yoy. Outstanding loans to farmers registered 3.61 trillion yuan, representing a yoy growth of 16.4 percent, up 0.5 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. The increase in Q1-Q3 was 494.1 billion yuan, up 11.1 billion yuan yoy. Outstanding agricultural loans posted 2.74 trillion yuan, rising by 12.6 percent yoy, up 0.9 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. The increase in Q1-Q3 was 323.3 billion yuan, up 88.7 billion yuan yoy.

5.     Property loan growth accelerated mainly due to rebound in the growth of personal home loans and property development loans

At end-September, RMB property loans extended by major financial institutions, major rural financial institutions, city credit unions and foreign-funded banks posted an outstanding balance of 11.74 trillion yuan, rising by 12.2 percent yoy, up 1.9 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. The increase in Q1-Q3 shrank by 10.2 billion yuan yoy to 982.1 billion yuan, accounting for 15.4 percent of the total of new loans in the same period, a portion 1.3 percentage points larger than that recorded in the January-August period.

At end-September, the outstanding balance of land development loans was 846.1 billion yuan, rising by 7.3 percent yoy, an acceleration of 6.5 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. Housing development loans posted an outstanding balance of 2.96 trillion yuan, rising by 12.1 percent yoy, up 0.8 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. The outstanding balance of personal home loans grew by 12.6 percent yoy to 7.8 trillion yuan, up 1.6 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. In Q1-Q3, personal home loans increased by 672.8 billion yuan, down 85 billion yuan yoy.

At end-September, outstanding loans for low-income housing development5 posted 521.5 billion yuan, rising by 61.7 percent yoy, down 1 percentage point from the end of the previous quarter. The growth in Q1-Q3 was 130 billion yuan, representing 60.2 percent of the increase in housing development loans in the same period, down 0.7 percentage points from the January-August period.

6.     Household loans grew at faster pace

At end-September, RMB and foreign currency loans extended by all financial institutions to households recorded an outstanding balance of 15.54 trillion yuan, rising by 17.8 percent yoy, up 1.2 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. The increase in Q1-Q3 posted 1.93 trillion yuan, 74.8 billion yuan less than a year earlier.

At end-September, the outstanding balance of consumption loans to households increased by 16.8 percent yoy, up 1.2 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. The increase in Q1-Q3 was 1.1 trillion yuan, down 43 billion yuan yoy. The outstanding balance of business loans to households rose by 19.6 percent yoy, up 1.2 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. The increase in Q1-Q3 posted 829.2 billion yuan, down 31.8 billion yuan yoy.

7.     Loans to central and western regions increased fast and loans to the eastern region saw growth rebound

At end-September, RMB and foreign currency loans issued by all financial institutions to eastern, central and western regions registered outstanding balances of 39.4 trillion, 11.31 trillion and 12.13 trillion yuan respectively, representing yoy growths of 13.9 percent, 18.6 percent and 19.8 percent respectively. Loans to the eastern, central and western regions grew at a pace 0.4, 0.4 and 0.6 percentage points faster respectively compared with the end of the previous quarter.                                   

[1]Throughout this report, major financial institutions refer to domestic banks (excluding rural commercial banks, rural cooperative banks and village and township banks).

[2] Throughout this report, major rural financial institutions include rural credit unions, rural commercial banks and rural cooperative banks.

[3] In June 2011, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued the Notice on the Publication of Classification Standards for Small and Medium Enterprises (Enterprise-Associated MIIT Document [2011] No.300). Accordingly, the PBC revised comprehensively the statistical system for loans to large, medium, small and micro enterprises on the basis of the former Specialized Statistical System for Loans to Large, Medium and Small Domestic Enterprises. Domestic enterprises, formerly falling into the three categories of large, medium and small enterprises, are now classified as large, medium, small and micro enterprises. And from the amounts brought forward have calculated yoy growth rates on a comparable basis.

4 As of January 2012, financial institutions have implemented the new sector classification standards (GB/T4754-2011) issued by the National Bureau of Statistics of China. Accordingly, the PBC has adjusted the yoy growth rates of related sector loans on a comparable basis.

5 Low-income housing includes commodity housing of two limits, affordable housing, government-subsidized rental housing, low-rent housing and other categories of social security housing. As of 2012, low-income housing development loans have included property development loans for shanty town renovation projects. In this report, the growth rates of low-income housing development loans are on a comparable basis.