Official data points to a sizeable decline in consumer loan growth in China in the first half of 2019.
As of the end of June 2019 short-term consumer loans to the household sector by Chinese depository financial institutions stood at 9.11 trillion yuan for a net increase of 329.319 billion yuan in the first half, according to data from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC).
The first half increase marks a sharp decline compared to net consumer loan growth of 826.302 billion yuan in the first half of 2018 and 1.173602 trillion yuan in the second half of 2018.
Xue Hongyan (薛洪言), assistant-head of the Suning Financial Research Institute, said to National Business Daily that signs of a slowdown in bank consumer loans already appeared in the second half of 2018.
According to Xue the chief reason behind the growth slowdown was an active slowdown in lending on the part of some Chinese banks.
