A closer look behind strong credit data

According to data released by the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, on March 10, the value of new renminbi loans reached 1.81 trillion yuan ($263.98 billion) in February, beating market expectations of 1.43 trillion yuan, or 592.8 billion yuan more than a year earlier.

The aggregate financing to the real economy (AFRE) — including bank loan securities and other forms of financing — increased 3.16 trillion yuan, far outnumbering the expectations of 2.08 trillion yuan and recording a year-on-year increase of 195 million yuan.

China's broad money supply, or M2, grew 12.9 percent year-on-year in February. It is higher than market expectations of 12.3 percent and the previous value of 12.6 percent, hitting a seven-year high.