China to Expect Strong Credit Growth in January: Journal

China's credit lending in January may have increased to CNY3.5 trillion, an increase of CNY160 billion from a year ago as corporate credit demand surged, the China Securities Journal reported citing Wang Jingwen, a senior analyst from China Minsheng Bank. Commercial banks were likely to have boosted lending last month as many loans last year were carried over and executed in January, the newspaper wrote citing Li Chao, chief economist from Zheshang Securities. Regulators may have applied marginal tightening to prevent a further rise in macro leverage ratios, so the growth rate of total social financing may have dropped by 0.2 percentage points from the previous month to 13.1%, Li said.