Banks in China extended a smaller-than-expected 532.8 billion yuan (US$78.6 billion) in new yuan loans last month, the central bank said yesterday.

The new credit in July was down from June's 603.4 billion yuan, according to data posted by the People's Bank of China on its website.

M2, the broadest money supply, including deposits and cash, grew 17.6 percent in July from a year ago, taming from June's 18.5 percent.

Monetary growth has been slowing since hitting a record 29.6 percent in November.

"The slowdown in monetary growth was sharper than expected, consistent with weaker-than-expected growth in other July data," said Nikhilesh Bhattacharyya, a Moody's Economy.com associateeconomist.

China yesterday also posted its July data on industrialoutput and fixed-asset investment, which showed a dip in growth.

"The slowdown of July money growth is a welcome sign for policy makers concerned about monetary growth feeding into inflation," Bhattacharyya added.

China's Consumer Price Index, a gauge for inflation, grew 3.3 percent in July, up 0.4 percentage point from a month ago. China is targeting a whole-year inflation of under 3 percent.

Over the coming months, money supply growth is expected to remain fairly stable, he said.

However, the new credit in July was up sharply from the 355.9 billion yuan credit a year ago, suggesting that credit creation is still taking place at a strong pace.

The central bank said earlier that it would maintain its appropriately loose monetarypolicy in the second half but with a tough stance in certain areas such as high-polluting industries and the real estate sector.

China has already hiked its reserve requirement ratio to drain liquidity earlier this year. The interest rates remained untouched since 2009.

"Monetary policy remains fairly expansionary," Bhattacharyya said. "It will help sustain credit growth even as economic growth slows during the second half of the year and borrowing for property purchases ease in line with government directives."

China targets money supply growth of 17 percent for this year and expects whole-year new credit of 7.5 trillion yuan.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• associate [ə´səuʃieit] v.联合a.同伴的n.伙伴 (初中英语单词)
• industrial [in´dʌstriəl] a.工业的，产业的 (初中英语单词)
• output [´autput] n.产品；产品；计算结果 (初中英语单词)
• investment [in´vestmənt] n.投资；(时间等)投入 (初中英语单词)
• welcome [´welkəm] a.受欢迎的；可喜的 (初中英语单词)
• percentage [pə´sentidʒ] n.百分数；比例；部分 (初中英语单词)
• stable [´steibəl] n.马棚 a.稳固的 (初中英语单词)
• sharply [´ʃɑ:pli] ad.锋利地；剧烈地 (初中英语单词)
• creation [kri´eiʃən] n.创作；作品；创造 (初中英语单词)
• maintain [mein´tein] vt.维持；保持；继续 (初中英语单词)
• estate [i´steit] n.财产；庄园；等级 (初中英语单词)
• sustain [sə´stein] vt.支撑；蒙受；确认 (初中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
• concerned [kən´sə:nd] a.有关的；担心的 (高中英语单词)
• consumer [kən´sju:mə] n.消费者；用户 (高中英语单词)
• requirement [ri´kwaiəmənt] n.需要(的东西)；要求 (高中英语单词)
• consistent [kən´sistənt] a.一致的；始终如一的 (英语四级单词)
• economist [i´kɔnəmist] n.经济学家；节俭的人 (英语四级单词)
• policy [´pɔlisi] n.政策；权谋；保险单 (英语四级单词)
• extended [iks´tendid] a.伸长的；广大的 (英语六级单词)
• monetary [´mʌnitəri] a.金融的；货币的 (英语六级单词)
• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
• untouched [ʌn´tʌtʃt] a.原样的；未触动过的 (英语六级单词)