NEW bank loans in China likely fell in December but lending for all of 2019 still set a record, a recent poll showed, as the central bank eases policy to support the slowing economy.

Chinese banks are estimated to have issued 1.194 trillion yuan (US$171.7 billion) in net new yuan loans last month, down from 1.39 trillion yuan in November, according to the median estimate in the survey of 31 economists.

If the December data, due later this week, is in line with forecasts, total new lending in 2019 would hit 16.88 trillion yuan, up 4.3 percent from the previous record of 16.17 trillion yuan in 2018.

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

To spur lending, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has cut banks’ reserve requirement ratios (RRR) eight times since early 2018 and pumped out trillions of yuan in liquidity. But the central bank has been wary of rising debt and high property prices and looks increasingly reluctant to ease more aggressively.

The PBOC has also lowered its key lending rate in recent months, with more cuts expected possibly before the end of this month.

In December, TSF is expected to fall to 1.7 trillion yuan from 1.75 trillion yuan in November.

Broad M2 money supply growth in December was seen at 8.3 percent, marginally down from 8.2 percent in November.

Annual outstanding yuan loan growth was expected to increase 12.4 percent for December.

(SD-Agencies)