Bank lendings decline in February

Chinese banks issued a total of 1.07 trillion yuan in new loans in February, down from 1.6 trillion yuan in January, the central bank said yesterday.

Analysts said China's new yuan loans would continue to be at high levels in the coming months as the country pulls out all stops to boost the economy.

New yuan loans totaled 2.67 trillion yuan in the first two months, more than half of the government target of at least 5 trillion yuan for the whole of this year. Premier Wen Jiabao said in his government work report at the opening of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) session last week that the country's new yuan lending should exceed 5 trillion yuan this year.