Central Bank of China

PRESS RELEASE Release Date: January 24, 2003




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Financial Conditions (December 2002)

Monetary Aggregates For the month of December 2002, the annual growth rates of the monetary aggregates M1A, M1B and M2, measured on a daily average basis, were 10.34%, 11.08%, and 2.79%, respectively, all of which fell from the figures recorded in the previous month. The M2 aggregate plus bond funds held by the general public posted an annual growth rate of 4.33% for the month. The lower M2 growth was mainly due to the decrease in net foreign capital inflows as well as last year's higher base. For the year 2002 as a whole, M2 exhibited an average annual growth rate of 3.55%, which fell within the CBC's monetary growth target zone (3.5%-8.5%).

Direct and Indirect Finance At the end of December, the annual growth rate of total loans and investments in major financial institutions, including monetary institutions and the Postal Savings System, edged up from "3.37% at the end of the previous month to "3.30%. If loans and investments extended by life insurance companies and investment and trust companies, major financial institutions' reclassifying non-accrual loans and writing-off bad loans, as well as funds raised directly from financial markets were taken into account, the total funds raised by non-financial sectors showed an annual growth rate of 3.23% for the month.


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