BEIJING — China's new yuan-denominated loans hit 2.85 trillion yuan ($405.09 billion) in March, a year-on-year rise of 1.16 trillion yuan, central bank data showed on April 10. 

The M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, rose 10.1 percent year-on-year to 208.09 trillion yuan at the end of March, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said.

The M2 growth was 1.3 percentage points higher than that at the end of February and 1.5 percentage points higher from a year ago.

Driven by increasing loans from commercial banks, the M2 growth was quickened, which effectively supported the epidemic containment and bolstered economic activities, Ruan Jianhong, a PBOC official, told a press conference.

Currently, market liquidity was kept at a reasonable and ample level, Ruan said.

The narrow measure of the money supply (M1), which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, stood at 57.51 trillion yuan by the end of March, 5 percent higher from a year ago.

The M1 growth was 0.2 percentage points higher than that at the end of February and 0.4 percentage points higher than that at the end of March 2019.

M0, the amount of cash in circulation, rose 10.8 percent year-on-year to 8.3 trillion yuan by the end of March.

The central bank injected 583.3 billion yuan of net cash into the market in the first quarter this year.

Newly added social financing, a measurement of funds that individuals and non-financial firms receive from the financial system, came in at 11.08 trillion yuan in the first three months, up 2.47 trillion yuan from a year ago.

At the end of March, the outstanding amount of social financing reached 262.24 trillion yuan, edging up 11.5 percent year-on-year.

Of the total, 60.6 percent, or 158.82 trillion yuan in outstanding loans went to the real economy, up 12.7 percent year-on-year.

As China's inflation continued to decrease in March, there will be more leeway in monetary policies, said Wen Bin, chief researcher with China Minsheng Bank, citing that the country's consumer price index grew 4.3 percent year-on-year last month, moderating from 5.2 percent in February.

Wen also advised authorities to strengthen monetary and fiscal policy support to sectors including new infrastructure and livelihood programs, boost consumption upgrading and further improve credit structure.