China's new loan growth may decline in April

Credit extended by China's banks in April may

have dropped to above 600 billion yuan (about 87.85 billion U.S. dollars)

after staying at above 1 trillion yuan for three straight months, industry

insiders said.

Despite the sharp month-on-month decline, the scale and growth of the

April new loans was "more reasonable" than that in the first three months

this year, said Tuesday's China Securities Journal, citing unidentified

sources with banks.

China's new yuan-denominated loans hit 4.58 trillion yuan (670 billion

U.S. dollars) in the first quarter, according to figures from the People's

Bank of China, the central bank. In March alone, new credit loans increased

1.89 trillion yuan.

The country's "big four" state-owned commercial banks, including

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world's largest bank by market

value, are estimated to have lent more than250 billion yuan in April, while

smaller banks have lent about 400billion yuan, said the sources.

Medium- and long-term loans would have accounted for a larger proportion

in the April new loans, while the scale of bill financing would fall sharply,

said analysts.

It is also forecasted that new loans in May and June will not see a

dramatic decline from the April level, according to Li Gang, expert with

Agricultural Bank of China.

The average new loans for the rest months of the year will be around 300

billion yuan, he said.