China's bank credit continued to expand in February, with loan in Renminbi rising to 1.07 trillion yuan (US$156.3 billion), up 827.3 billion yuan from a year ago, the People's Bank of China said on Thursday.

It is the second straight month that new yuan-denominated loans exceeded 1 trillion yuan. January saw new loans hit a record 1.62 trillion yuan, double the figure from the same period last year.

Premier Wen Jiabao said on March 5 at the opening of the National People's Congress, the top legislative body, that new yuan-denominated loans this year were expected to reach 5 trillion yuan.

According to the central bank, outstanding Renminbi loans stood at 33.06 trillion yuan by the end of February, up 24.17 percent year-on-year. The growth was 5.44 percentage points higher than the end of 2008, and 2.85 percentage points higher than January.

Through February, the M2 -- a broad measure of money supply, which covers cash in circulation and all deposits -- figure grew by 20.48 percent from a year earlier to 50.71 trillion yuan.

The outstanding amount of M0, or cash in circulation, hit 3.51 trillion yuan, up 8.28 percent from the same period last year.

(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2009)