BEIJING — China's new yuan-denominated loans increased to 1.66 trillion yuan (about $256.92 billion) last month, central bank data showed on Oct 13.

The figure was up from 1.22 trillion yuan the previous month, but was down by 232.7 billion yuan from a year ago, according to the People's Bank of China.

The M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 8.3 percent year-on-year to 234.28 trillion yuan at the end of September, the data showed.

The growth rate was 0.1 percentage points higher than the figure seen at the end of August and 2.6 percentage points lower than that seen during the same period last year.

The M1, which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, stood at 62.46 trillion yuan at the end of last month, up 3.7 percent year-on-year.

The M0, the amount of cash in circulation, increased 5.5 percent from a year ago to 8.69 trillion yuan at the end of September.