From Singapore's Straits Times, April 14:
BEIJING - China’s credit expanded more than expected in March as the government accelerated bond offerings to help the economy offset the impact of surging US tariffs on Chinese goods.
Aggregate financing, a broad measure of credit, rose 5.89 trillion yuan (S$1.06 trillion), according to Bloomberg calculations based on data released by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) on April 13.
That compares with a median forecast of 4.96 trillion yuan by economists in a Bloomberg survey, and an increase of 4.83 trillion yuan in the same month a year ago.
Financial institutions offered 3.64 trillion yuan of new loans in the month, Bloomberg calculations showed. The median forecast was 3 trillion yuan.
Bigger government bond sales were a key driver of aggregate financing in March, as business demand for longer-term credit stayed weak. March is also traditionally a strong month for borrowing because banks tend to extend more credit at the end of each quarter to meet lending targets.
Net sovereign and local bond financing reached nearly 1.5 trillion yuan in March, the highest for any March since at least 2017, according to PBOC data. The bond deluge came after China vowed to front-load fiscal spending earlier in 2025, on anticipation of looming trade tensions with the US.
China’s economy likely held up in the first quarter before the trade conflict between the world’s two biggest economies escalated....
....MUCH MORE
Circling back to the question introducing yesterday's "Goldman Sachs On China GDP":
Goldman seems to have the right order of magnitude. Back of the envelope scribbling shows that fully 1/3 of the $900 billion USD equivalent growth (5% on ~$18 trillion) that the Chinese government is targeting could be lost to the virtual embargo on exports to the U.S. that 145% tariffs create, giving 3.33% growth as the starting point.
Raising the question: What is the Marginal Productivity of Debt in China? How much bang for the buck, so to speak, will they get out of the upcoming stimulus? The last time I looked the U.S. requires $2 in deficit spending (stimulus) to generate $1 in GDP growth. So, whither China?
Also at the ST:
