China's foreign exchange reserve topped US$2.13 trillion by the end of June, up 17.84 percent year on year, the People's Bank of China said Wednesday.

CFP photo

About US$185.6 billion were added to the world's largest official foreign exchange reserves in the first half of the year, but that figure is about US$95 billion less than the same period a year ago, said the central bank.

The stockpile was increased by US$42.1 billion in June, US$30.2 billion more than the same time a year earlier.

Chinese exports plummeted 21.8 percent through the January-June period in the sharpest decrease in a decade after the global financial crisis sapped demand for Chinese goods.

Declining exports drove down the trade surplus to US$96.94 billion in the first half, down 1.3 percent year on year.

A decline of the greenback also helped depress the reserves value as a big share of the holdings were US treasury bills.

The central bank also said 7.37 trillion yuan of new bank loans were extended in the first half of the year, 4.92 trillion yuan more than in the same period a year ago, to echo the moderately ease monetary policy to support the economic revival.

Credits to nonfinancial businesses were 6.31 trillion yuan in the first half, up 4.32 trillion yuan year on year. Of the total, 1.32 trillion yuan were short-term loans, and 3.18 trillion yuan were mid-and-long-term loans. Bill financing was 1.71 trillion yuan.

In June, 1.53 trillion yuan of loans were issued, the second highest monthly figure this year.

The broad measure of money supply (M2), which covers cash in circulation and all deposits, rose 28.46 percent year on year to 56.89 trillion yuan by the end of June.

The narrow measure of money supply, M1 (cash in circulation plus corporate current deposits), was up 24.79 percent to 19.32 trillion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency July 15, 2009)