China is said to ask banks to curtail credit for rest of year

The People's Bank of China headquarters in Beijing, China. - Xinhua

BEIJING, April 6 (Bloomberg): China’s central bank asked the nation’s major lenders to curtail loan growth for the rest of this year after a surge in the first two months stoked bubble risks, according to people familiar with the matter.

At a meeting with the People’s Bank of China on March 22, banks were told to keep total advances in 2021 at roughly the same level as last year, said the people, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. Some foreign banks were also urged to rein in new lending through so-called window guidance recently after ramping up their balance sheets in 2020, one of the people said.