Lower loan target likely for lenders in 2010

China will set its loan target for 2010 at a level well below the total amount that banks gave out this year on concerns about deteriorating asset bubbles and bad loan problems, sources at the nation's top regulatory bodies told China Daily yesterday.

"The strong tide of credit growth cannot be copied into next year," a source at People's Bank of China, the country's top monetary authority, said.

The official at the nation's top banking regulatory body echoed the tone. "The galloping credit growth this year was an exceptional measure at an exceptional time. The flood will definitely ebb in the coming year," the official at China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), who declined to be named, said.