Central Bank: my country’s currency and credit will maintain reasonable growth in 2023

　　China News Service, February 8. According to the central bank's website, the People's Bank of China released China's monetary policy implementation report for the fourth quarter of 2023 on the 8th. The report pointed out that overall, the monetary policy in 2023 will adhere to the principle of stability and progress while maintaining stability, creating a good monetary and financial environment for the economic recovery to improve.

　　In 2023, money and credit will maintain reasonable growth, with the balance of RMB loans reaching 237.6 trillion yuan at the end of the year, and the stock of broad money (M2) and social financing increased by 9.7% and 9.5% respectively year-on-year; new loans throughout the year were 22.7 trillion yuan, more than 237.6 trillion yuan year-on-year. An increase of 1.3 trillion yuan. The credit structure continued to be optimized. At the end of the year, the balance of inclusive small and micro loans and manufacturing medium and long-term loans increased by 23.5% and 31.9% year-on-year respectively; private enterprise loans increased by 12.6% year-on-year, 1.6 percentage points higher than the end of the previous year.

　　Social financing costs were stable but declining. The weighted average interest rate of newly issued corporate loans in December was 3.75%, 0.22 percentage points lower than the same period last year, continuing to hit a new low since statistics were collected; the weighted average interest rate of newly issued personal housing loans was 3.97%, lower than the same period last year. It was 0.29 percentage points lower than the same period last year. The interest rate on first-home loans of more than 23 trillion yuan was reduced by an average of 0.73 percentage points, reducing borrowers' interest expenses by about 170 billion yuan every year.

　　The RMB exchange rate floated in both directions and was expected to converge, remaining basically stable. At the end of the year, the closing price of the RMB exchange rate against the US dollar was 7.0920, an appreciation of more than 3% from the current low.