China’s Bank Loans Lowest Since 2017 as Economy Slows

(Bloomberg) — China’s credit growth in October was the lowest since 2019 and bank loans expanded by the smallest amount in almost five years, suggesting a further slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy due to wider coronavirus curbs and a housing slump.

Aggregate financing, the broadest measure of credit in China’s economy, was 908 billion yuan ($126 billion) last month according to the People’s Bank of China. That was the lowest amount for an October since 2019 and well below the 1.6 trillion yuan recorded in the same month last year.