On October 30, Beijing branches of the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in Peking held a press conference for the fourth quarter of 2024. Overall, as of the end of September, the RMB loan balances and deposit balances in Beijing increased by 5.4% and 9.4% year-on-year respectively.

Of note, since the beginning of this year, the average weighted interest rate for new corporate loans issued by financial institutions in Beijing has consistently remained at a low level, with the average interest rate for enterprise loans in September being 2.87%, reaching a new low in statistics.

Specifically regarding crediting, in the first three quarters of this year, the total amount of loans in the regions financial institutions in Beijing continued to grow. At the end of September, the loan balances in RMB increased by 5.4% year-on-year, with an average monthly growth rate of 10.2% in the first three quarters. By the end of September, long-term loans for enterprises increased by 8.7% year-on-year.

"Considering various dimensions such as on-balance and off-balance sheet financing, direct financing, and indirect financing, the financial system provided nearly 950 billion yuan in financing to the real economy in the first three quarters, an increase of nearly 400 billion yuan compared to the same period last year," said Ma Bing, Deputy Director of the Investigation and Statistics Department of the People's Bank of China Beijing Branch.

In terms of the credit structure, since the beginning of this year, Beijing has continued to increase support for key areas and weak links. The credit structure has further optimized. By the end of September, the balance of long-term loans to the manufacturing industry increased by 12.4% year-on-year, 4.5 percentage points higher than the overall industry. Green loans increased by 15.5% year-on-year, while inclusive micro-loans increased by 15.8% year-on-year. The number of inclusive micro loan recipients is 1.497 million households, an increase of 0.284 million households from the previous quarter.

In terms of interest rates, since the beginning of this year, the average weighted interest rate for new corporate loans issued by financial institutions in Beijing has consistently remained at a low level, alleviating the burden of interest on enterprises. Data shows that in September, the average weighted interest rate for general loans in the Beijing area was 3.69%, a decrease of 12 and 16 basis points year-on-year and month-on-month respectively. The average weighted interest rate for corporate loans was 2.87%, reaching a new low in statistics, with a year-on-year and month-on-month decrease of 25 and 2 basis points respectively.

Furthermore, on September 30, the RMB deposit balances in Beijing increased by 9.4% year-on-year, 2.3 percentage points higher than the end of the previous quarter, with an average monthly growth rate of 9.1% in the first three quarters. The reporters from Caixin noted that household RMB deposits increased by 10.0% year-on-year, a decrease of 7.9 percentage points from the same period last year.

Looking ahead, China Minsheng Bank's chief economist Wen Bin believes that with the effective implementation of a package of incremental policies, infrastructure and manufacturing investment in the fourth quarter are expected to maintain a certain strength, real estate sales gradually stabilize after the decline, the internal circulation from production to consumption is somewhat restored, driving the recovery of corporate production and operation sentiment, alleviating weak consumer spending, and enhancing the macroeconomic growth momentum.