(Yicai Global) Jan. 16 -- China's total social financing, a broad gauge of credit and liquidity in the economy, climbed about 14 percent to CNY25.6 trillion (USD3.7 trillion) last year. That was CNY3.08 trillion more than in 2018.

The increase in December alone was CNY2.1 trillion, money supply data released by the People's Bank of China showed today, topping the average CNY1.6 trillion forecast of chief economists surveyed by Yicai Global.

Total social financing includes off-balance sheet types of financing outside the traditional banking system, including initial public offerings, loans from trust companies and bond sales, according to the website of data compiler Trading Economics.

The government introduced TSF, or non-governmental financing, in 2011 to better measure liquidity rather than just relying on money supply figures. It has helped the leadership supervise fundraising, with the government expanding liquidity in the real economy last year against a backdrop of slowing global growth.

The PBOC will include bonds issued by the national government and general debts from local governments into the calculation of aggregate non-governmental financing from now on, and integrate it with previous local governments' special bonds into the category of governmental bonds, the central bank added.

New yuan loans surged to CNY16.81 trillion last year, including about CNY1.14 trillion in December, the PBOC said. The chief economists surveyed by Yicai Global expected a figure of CNY16.84 trillion for 2019 and CNY1.14 trillion for December. They see new loans rising to CNY18.17 trillion this year.

In recent years, new yuan loans have increased year by year, with the PBOC's annual data showing that new lending amounted to CNY16.2 trillion in 2018, CNY13.5 trillion in 2017 and CNY12.7 trillion in 2016.

The central bank also said that at the end of December, the balance of yuan loans stood at CNY153.11 trillion, a 12.3 percent year-on-year increase, while the balance of broad money M2 stood at CNY198.7 trillion, an annual increase of 8.7 percent.

Editor: Peter Thomas