BEIJING — China’s new yuan-denominated lending rose sharply in July, new data showed, thanks to the central bank’s easing measures such as interest rate cuts and the government’s continuing pro-growth measures.

New yuan loans hit 1.48 trillion yuan ($241.8 billion) during the last month, up 1.61 trillion yuan from a year earlier, according to data released by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) on Aug 11.

M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 13.3 percent year on year to 135.32 trillion yuan at the end of July, the central bank.

The PBOC spokesperson attributed the increases mainly to cuts in benchmark interest rates and bank’s reserve requirement ratio and government’s supportive policies to stimulate the real economy and prop up economic growth.

The narrow measure of money supply (M1), which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, rose 6.6 percent year on year to 35.31 trillion yuan at the end of last month.

However, China’s total social financing, a measure of funds to non-financial firms and households from the financial system, stood at 718.8 billion yuan in July, down 1.11 trillion yuan month on month and up 532.7 billion yuan from a year ago.