Fears grow yuan lending may stoke inflation

China's annualized growth in yuan lending dropped slightly to 14.7 percent in April, but the lending volume in the first four months amounted to nearly half of the preset target for this year, triggering concerns excessive lending could stoke high inflation this year.

The devastating earthquake that hit Southwest regions on Monday will further complicate authorities' macroeconomic policymaking, analysts said.

Yuan-denominated lending rose 14.7 percent in April from a year earlier, compared with 14.62 percent in March, the central bank said in a statement yesterday. But new yuan loans in April reached 463.9 billion yuan, compared with 283.4 billion in March and 422 billion in April 2007, indicating heavy pressure on policymakers' efforts to curb lending.