The central bank has reduced banks' 2011 lending targets by 10 percent from last year, the official Securities Journal reported Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.5 j4 m6 T+ r. a
The central bank has also asked banks not to lend more than 12 percent of their full-year targets in January, the newspaper said.
_: J" C3 [; b The full-year lending target is seen at between 7.2 trillion yuan ($1.09 trillion) to 7.5 trillion yuan ($1.14 trillion), it said. Banks lent 7.95 trillion yuan ($1.21 trillion) in 2010, overshooting Beijing's target and highlighting the need for more decisive policy tightening.
, E; |, } e1 ` _+ M Banks continued their lending frenzy in the beginning of the year, doling out 500 billion yuan ($75.95 billion) in new loans in the first week of January alone, putting fresh pressure on the central bank to tighten policy to put a lid on inflation.
3 ]7 }% g, A6 L" r For January, total lending of 900 billion yuan ($136.72 billion) is considered a reasonable target, but anything beyond 1.2 trillion yuan ($182.29 billion) would be considered intolerable for the regulator.
: Z& c1 U! n, J The January target has led to a lending squeeze at some commercial banks, it said.
# U/ m* K ~. T& h" w/ `) Y "Big Four" lenders may have already lent close to 800 billion yuan ($121.52 billion) in the first two weeks of January, the Securities Journal reported.
4 O% ?1 m1 C4 h: Q- ~- T The regulator may penalise banks that exceed their January lending ceilings by setting specific reserve ratios for these banks or asking them to buy more central bank notes. |