Aggregate financing rose to 3.42 trillion yuan ($525 billion), according to data released Tuesday, compared with the median forecast of 2.2 trillion yuan in a Bloomberg survey.
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China’s broadest measure of new credit surged to a record in January as a seasonal lending binge coincided with a recovery in property prices, and as companies paid back foreign currency loans amid yuan weakness. Sales in China’s northern Shaanxi province and Tianjin municipality soared by more than 10 percent, while that of southern Chongqing municipality and Hubei province increased by over 12 percent.
Hao Zhou, senior economist at Commerzbank AG in Singapore.
Premier Li Keqiang has said Beijing will not promote exports through currency depreciation, although some policy advisers have been calling for sharper yuan falls.
“Sometimes the market will show flaws, by being controlled by speculative forces or short-term sentiment and a herd effect”, Zhou said. Fake transactions were widely suspected to be one reason behind a much milder drop in December trade than markets had expected. Total ticket sales over the first three days of this year’s Lunar New Year nearly equaled the total sales for the whole week-long holiday last year, according to Saturday’s statement.
For the past two years, Valentine’s Day was several days before or after the holiday.
China’s commerce ministry has warned that the country’s external trade is facing relatively severe pressure in 2016, and few analysts expect a sudden improvement in global demand.
Services for the first time generated more than half of China’s gross domestic product previous year, at 50.5 percent, in line with the country’s move to restructure the economy towards services and consumption.
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The Chinese economy grew 6.9 percent in 2015 – the slowest rate since 1990 – and capital has been flowing out of the country due to worries over flagging growth, causing the currency to weaken.
