Central Bank: M2 balance at the end of March was 353.86 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.5%.

On April 13, the People's Bank of China released the financial statistics report for the first quarter of 2026. Preliminary statistics show that the total social financing scale at the end of March 2026 was 456.46 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.9% year-on-year. By the end of March, the broad money supply (M2) balance was 353.86 trillion yuan, up 8.5% year-on-year. The narrow money supply (M1) balance was 119.32 trillion yuan, up 5.1% year-on-year. The currency in circulation (M0) balance was 14.71 trillion yuan, up 12.5% year-on-year. Cash net injection in the first quarter was 613.5 billion yuan. The report also mentioned that the total social financing incremental amount for the first quarter was 14.83 trillion yuan, with an increase of 8.6 trillion yuan in RMB loans. Additionally, broad money (M2) grew by 8.5% in March, while narrow money (M1) grew by 5.1% and currency in circulation (M0) grew by 12.5%. The report further detailed that RMB deposits increased by 13.73 trillion yuan in the first quarter, with household deposits increasing by 7.68 trillion yuan. RMB loans increased by 8.6 trillion yuan, with an increase of 296.7 billion yuan in household loans. In the interbank RMB market in March, the weighted average interest rate for interbank lending was 1.38%, and for bond repurchase transactions, it was 1.4%. At the end of March, China's foreign exchange reserves stood at 3.34 trillion US dollars. In terms of cross-border RMB settlements, the report mentioned that the amount for regular transactions was 4.52 trillion yuan in the first quarter, with direct investment settlement amounting to 2.11 trillion yuan. This article was sourced from the official website of the People's Bank of China and edited by GMTight.