Chinese banks extended 615.2 billion yuan ($84.8 billion) in new yuan loans in October, a decrease of 211 billion yuan year on year, partly due to last year's high figure, data from the People's Bank of China showed Thursday.

New yuan loans increased by 2.47 trillion yuan in September, almost doubling from August.

Household loans decreased by 18 billion yuan in October, of which short-term loans dropped by 51.2 billion yuan, while medium- and long-term loans increased by 33.2 billion yuan. Corporate loans expanded by 462.6 billion yuan.

In the first 10 months of the year, new yuan loans gained 18.7 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.15 trillion yuan.

The M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers all cash in circulation and all deposits, was up 11.8 percent year-on-year to 261.29 trillion yuan.

The M1, which includes all cash in circulation plus demand deposits, hit 66.21 trillion yuan, a 5.8-percent rise from last year.

China will step up financial support for the real economy and maintain a prudent monetary policy, Yi Gang, the central bank governor, said late last month.