China’s credit expansion seen slower in Dec but hitting record in 2019 - Reuters poll

According to the median estimate in the Reuters survey of 31 economists, China’s credit expansion likely slowed last month but lending for all of 2019 still remained at a record.

Key Findings:

“Chinese banks are estimated to have issued 1.194 trillion yuan ($171.7 billion) in net new yuan loans last month, down from 1.39 trillion yuan in November.

Total new lending in 2019 would hit 16.88 trillion yuan, up 4.3% from the previous record of 16.17 trillion yuan in 2018.

Faster credit expansion will be key to stabilizing economic growth, which cooled to 6% in the third quarter of 2019, the slowest since the early 1990s.

The US-China Phase 1 trade deal, expected to be signed this month, will relieve only some of the pressure weighing on the Chinese economy.”