Financial operations of loan growth in China was steady in February with increasing individual deposits, the People's Bank of China reported on Wednesday.

Outstanding renminbi deposits among the country's financial institutions reached 40.49 trillion yuan ($5.70 trillion) in February, up 17.22 percent in comparison to the same period last year.

The growth was 2.10 percentage points higher than January, the central bank said in a statement.

In February, the outstanding value of all renminbi loans of financial institutions hit 27.22 trillion yuan, up 15.73 percent compared with the same period last year.

The growth was 1.01 percentage points lower than January, the central bank said.

China's M2, the broad measure of money supply, reached 42.10 trillion yuan in February, up 17.48 percent from a year earlier. The increment was 1.46 percentage points lower than the number in January.

The narrow measure of money supply, M1, rose 19.20 percent to 15.02 trillion yuan, but the increment was 1.52 percentage points lower than January.

(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2008)