China’s New Yuan Loans Were Less Than Estimated in Feb.

China’s new yuan loans were less than estimated in February and money supply growth was below the government’s target, central bank data showed yesterday, raising the odds of policy easing to support credit.

Local-currency-denominated loans were 710.7 billion yuan ($113 billion) last month, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement on its website yesterday. That compares with the 750 billion yuan median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 26 economists and 738 billion yuan in January. M2, the broadest measure of money supply, expanded 13 percent in February from a year earlier.