China's new yuan-denominated loans totaled 19.95 trillion yuan ($3.13 trillion) in 2021, up 315 billion yuan compared to the year before, central bank data showed Wednesday.

In December, new bank lending went down 123.4 billion yuan from the same period in 2020, standing at 1.13 trillion yuan, according to the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

The M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased by 9 percent from a year earlier to 238.29 trillion yuan.

To counter the slowing economic growth, China cut its reserve requirement ratio by 50 bps in December. The cut, second such move of the year, would release 1.2 trillion yuan in long-term liquidity, said PBOC at the time.

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(With input from Xinhua)