How to look at the financial data in the first quarter, how to stimulate the vitality ?——People's Bank of China of business entities, and how to respond to hot issues by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 18 (Xinhua) -- How do you look at the financial data in the first quarter? How can the vitality of business entities stimulate ?——People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange respond to hot issues

Xinhua News Agency reporters Wu Yu and Zhang Qianqian

The balance of broad money M2 exceeded 300 trillion yuan, new loans amounted to 9.5 trillion yuan, and the interest rate on new corporate loans fell to 3.75 percent...... At the press conference held by the State Council New Office on April 18, relevant responsible persons of the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange explained the financial data in detail and responded to hot issues.

The financial aggregate has grown steadily

"Financial support for the real economy remains solid. Zhu Hexin, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China and director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said at the press conference that the total financial volume grew steadily in the first quarter, and the proportion of loans returned to the historical average, leaving enough room for credit growth in the next three quarters.

According to the data, at the end of March, the balance of RMB loans in mainland China was 247.05 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.6%; The balance of M2 was 304.8 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.3%.

Zhang Wenhong, head of the Survey and Statistics Department of the People's Bank of China, said that although the new loans in the first quarter were lower than the same period of the previous year, they increased by 1.13 trillion yuan compared with the same period in 2022, and credit support for the real economy remained at a high level.

In the first quarter, the interest rate on new corporate loans was 3.75%, and the interest rate on new personal housing loans was 3.71%, 0.22 and 0.46 percentage points lower than the same period last year, respectively.

Behind the steady decline in financing costs is a series of financial measures: the re-lending and rediscount rates for small rural support were lowered by 0.25 percentage points, and the market prime interest rate for loans with a maturity of more than 5 years was reduced by 0.25 percentage points......

Zou Lan, director of the Monetary Policy Department of the People's Bank of China, said that a series of measures in the early stage have been effective, and in the future, the People's Bank of China will continue to closely observe and maintain the nominal interest rate at a reasonable level in combination with the economic recovery trend, inflation trend and the promotion of transformation and upgrading. At the same time, it is necessary to prevent problems such as excessively low interest rates, intensified involution competition, and idling of funds.

"Some enterprises use the money raised from low-cost loans to buy financial management, deposit time, or re-lend to other enterprises, the main business is not profitable, but finance has become the main source of profits, which is easy to form idling and capital precipitation, reducing the efficiency of capital use. Zou Lan said that the relevant departments will strengthen the monitoring of the idling of funds and improve the management assessment mechanism. In the future, with the transformation and upgrading of the economy, the recovery of effective demand, and the improvement of social expectations, the phenomenon of capital precipitation and idling will be alleviated.

In view of the fact that the balance of M2 has exceeded 300 trillion yuan, Zou Lan believes that the current stock of currency is not low, and the growth of the huge monetary aggregate may slow down. However, this does not mean that the intensity of financial support for the real economy will be reduced, and efficient enterprises that really need funds will still receive more financing, which is a reflection of the improvement of the quality and efficiency of financial support.

Optimize the structure and invest in key areas

The reporter learned from the press conference that in the first quarter, new loans were mainly invested in key areas such as manufacturing, infrastructure and service industries, and the growth rate of loans in the real estate industry also rebounded.

According to the data, at the end of March, the year-on-year growth rates of high-tech manufacturing loans, inclusive small and micro loans, agriculture-related loans and private economy loans of financial institutions were 27.3%, 20.3%, 13.5% and 10.7% respectively, all of which were significantly higher than the growth rate of all loans, the loan access rate of small and medium-sized technology-based enterprises was 47.9%, an increase of more than two times that of 2017, and the number of inclusive small and micro credit households has exceeded 60 million.

"Loans to enterprises (institutions) are the main body of credit growth. Zhang Wenhong introduced that in the first quarter, loans to enterprises (institutions) increased by 7.77 trillion yuan, of which medium and long-term loans increased by 6.2 trillion yuan, reflecting that the financial system continues to provide a stable source of funds for the real economy.

Zhang Wenhong said that although the scale of new social financing in the first quarter fell year-on-year, it was still at a historically high level. Since the beginning of this year, the People's Bank of China has focused on guiding the balanced growth of credit of financial institutions, while consolidating support for the real economy, avoiding excessive rush and lack of stamina, which will help enhance the sustainability of credit growth.

The People's Bank of China also uses incentive mechanisms to guide financial resources to focus on key areas. Zhu Hexin said that it is necessary to give full play to the role of structural monetary policy tools, make good use of the newly established 500 billion yuan of scientific and technological innovation and technological transformation reloans, and support the digital, intelligent and high-end upgrading of small and medium-sized science and technology enterprises and key areas. Relax the criteria for identifying inclusive small and micro loans to a single credit limit of no more than 20 million yuan, and guide more financial resources to be accurately invested in the inclusive field.

As of the end of March, the balance of structural monetary policy instruments on the mainland reached 7.5 trillion yuan, accounting for about 17% of the total assets of the central bank. After integration and optimization, the current 10 support areas of the survival tool can basically cover five major articles.

Ensure that policies are implemented and stimulate vitality

"One aspect of testing the effectiveness of financial services in the real economy is the convenience and satisfaction of business entities to obtain financial services. Zhu Hexin introduced that since the beginning of this year, the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange have promoted the streamlining of administration and decentralization, and continued to unblock the channels for funds to enter the real economy.

According to the data, in the first quarter, the growth rate of loans to private and small and micro enterprises was significantly higher than the average growth rate of various loans; the issuance of bills by small, medium and micro enterprises accounted for 93.2% of all signatories; and the issuance of corporate credit bonds exceeded 3.65 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.5%. At the end of March, the bond financing support tool for private enterprises had supported 143 private enterprises to issue bonds of more than 251.5 billion yuan.

At the same time, the People's Bank of China has taken comprehensive measures to maintain the basic stability of the RMB exchange rate, strengthen the supply of foreign exchange facilitation policies for cross-border trade and investment, and support enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to better manage exchange rate risks.

"China's economy has entered a stage of high-quality development, the balance of payments will be independently balanced, the depth and breadth of the foreign exchange market will be further expanded, and the risk neutrality awareness of business entities will also be significantly enhanced. Zhu Hexin introduced that in the first quarter, foreign exchange derivatives transactions accounted for nearly 30% of bank agency transactions, an increase of 3.9 percentage points over last year.

According to reports, in the next step, the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange will continue to focus on improving the quality and level of financial services, increase policy evaluation, ensure the implementation of policies that benefit enterprises and the people, fully stimulate the endogenous power and development vitality of various business entities, and support high-quality economic development.

Source: Xinhuanet