China’s Banks Extend Record Loans as Companies Borrow More

(Bloomberg) — Chinese banks extended a record amount of new loans in January after authorities prodded them to lend more to businesses, though consumer borrowing remained subdued.

Financial institutions offered 4.9 trillion yuan ($720 billion) of new loans last month, beating economists’ prediction of 4.2 trillion yuan and topping the previous record of 3.98 trillion yuan a year earlier by 23%.