FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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Speculation Curbed: China Shadow Credit Plunges, Bank Loans Grow

July 17, 2018 (EIRNS)—China released second-quarter 2018 economic data showing a huge 24% quarter-to-quarter drop in “shadow bank” lending, the speculative credit the government has been acting to control. Year to year the drop was even greater, 27%. It was so large that it actually made the figure for “total credit available” decline, bank lending by commercial banks having grown strongly.

China’s crackdown on speculative lending and bond market activity is clearly very serious.

Against this backdrop, China’s second quarter GDP rose 6.7% from the same quarter a year earlier; retail sales rose 9.0%; industrial production grew 6.0%, and fixed asset investment rose 6.0%.