Money supply growth slows in April

Expansion of new loans flat despite deleveraging, says the central bank

China's broad money supply maintained a low growth rate of 8.3 percent in April, along with flat new yuan loan expansion even as policymakers continued financial deleveraging, according to data from the People's Bank of China, the central bank, on Friday.

Last month's M2, or the broad measure of money supply covering cash in circulation and all deposits, missed market expectations of 8.5 percent and was only 0.1 percentage points higher than March's reading, but 1.5 percentage points lower than a year earlier.