China’s M2 Money Supply Growth Falls Short of Forecasts in February to Hit Record Low

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Growth in China’s M2 money supply eased to a new record low in February.

Data from the Chinese central bank indicates that the M2 money supply balance was 186.74 trillion yuan as of the end of February, for YoY growth of 8%, as compared to a forecast of 8.4%.

The February YoY growth rate was also 0.4 percentage points behind the reading for January and 0.8 percentage points behind the reading for the same period last year.

The M1 money supply balance was 52.72 trillion yuan for YoY growth of 2%, and a deceleration of 1.6 percentage points compared to January and 6.5 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

The M0 money supply balance was 7.95 trillion yuan, for a YoY decline of 2.4%, or a net withdrawal of cash of 798.6 billion yuan.

China’s government work report for 2019 said for the first time that growth in the M2 money supply and total social financing should correspond to nominal growth in gross domestic product, in order to better ensure that the economy remains within a “rational threshold.”