China's new yuan-dominated lending in April expanded to 774 billion yuan (US$113.35 billion) from 510.7 billion yuan in March, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, said in a statement Tuesday.

It was also an increase of 182.2 billion yuan from the same period last year, according to the statement published on its website.

Related readings: New lending slows on government curbs Regulator to ban lending to speculative home buyers Banks urged to readjust lending Banks' total new lending may top 800b yuan in March The April figure brought new loans in the first four months to more than 3.37 trillion yuan, nearing half the total of 7.5 trillion yuan China has targeted for the full year.

China's broad money supply (M2), which covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 21.48 percent year-on-year to about 65.66 trillion yuan by the end of April, the statement said. The year-on-year increase was 22.5 percent at the end of March.

The narrow measure of money supply (M1), cash in circulation plus current corporate deposits, climbed 31.25 percent from a year ago to 23.39 trillion yuan by April end. The growth was 29.94 percent in March.

(Xinhua News Agency May 11, 2010)