China reports 7.5% M2 growth in August as ministries roll out industrial and payment policy signals
China released a dense set of policy and market developments on Sept. 14, led by the People’s Bank of China’s August 2026 financial data. Broad money supply, or M2, reached 356.81 trillion yuan at the end of August, up 7.5% year over year and down 0.2 percentage point from the prior month. M1 stood at 115.77 trillion yuan, up 4.1%, while M0 rose 11.2%. Aggregate social financing added 23.91 trillion yuan in the first eight months of 2026, 2.64 trillion yuan less than a year earlier. Experts cited in the source said total credit expansion remained broadly aligned with nominal economic growth, though financing structure had shifted toward faster bond and equity financing growth and slower loan growth. The same day, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a meeting on industrial operations and planning for 2027, calling for stronger demand support, progress on major projects in the 15th Five-Year Plan period, industrial upgrading, and faster development and application of artificial intelligence. Other ministries also moved on consumer and payment policy. The Ministry of Commerce and seven other departments issued an action plan to boost smart home consumption, while regulators including SASAC, MIIT, SAMR, and the CSRC outlined steps to address delayed payments to small and medium-sized enterprises, including cash-payment requirements, tighter disclosure, and penalties for disguised extensions of payment terms.
