New yuan lending to reach 600-750b yuan in Sept

New yuan lending extended by Chinese commercial lenders might reach somewhere between 600 to 750 billion yuan ($94.66 to 118.33 billion), as medium and long-term loans increase to support infrastructure construction projects, analysts said.

There are signs that lending conditions in September have improved and that new loans would be at the same level as last month, said Lian Ping, chief economist at the Bank of Communications Co Ltd, adding that throughout the third quarter total new lending would reach 1.9 trillion yuan.

The lending structure is also expected to show improvement, as medium and long-term loans are seen increasing substantially, driven by additional capital demand to support infrastructure construction projects, he said.

Lu Zhengwei, chief economist at Industrial Bank, said that in the past 12 years, new loans extended in September are usually higher than those in August.

"Adding the factor that the end of the quarter often sees a surge in new lending, it's very likely that new loans in September would even exceed those in August," Liu said.

He forecasted that the figure for September would be as high as 750 billion yuan.

The proportion of medium and long-term corporate loans to total new lending rose significantly in September, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Friday, citing anonymous banking executives.

China's lenders extended a record-high amount of new yuan loans last month compared with any previous August as the government seeks financial support for new rounds of investment projects intended to spur economic growth.

New yuan lending reached 703.9 billion yuan in August, up 155.5 billion yuan from the same period last year.

New medium and long-term corporate loans increased 28.3 billion yuan from a month earlier, but are still at a lower level than the historic average.

Concerns over lending growth became increasingly intense after banks lent just 540.1 billion yuan in July, the lowest level since October 2011.

Analysts have questioned whether the investment plans to stimulate the economy would work if they fail to get sufficient financial backing.