CRI听力:China Releases New Economic Figures for July

A new set of official economic data for July has been released here in China.

Among the new numbers, fixed asset investment for last month is up 17-percent year on year.

Both retail sales and industrial output are up around 10 percent.

However, new lending for last month has decreased dramatically.

The People's Bank of China is reporting new yuan-denominated lending through July has come in at just over 385-billion yuan, the lowest in nearly six years.

This is down by over 80-percent compared to July of last year.

Its also down dramatically from the over 1-triillion yuan worth of new loans put out through June of this year.

The PBOC is attributing the dramatic downturn in lending, in part, to the government's relaxed pressure for new growth, on top of the cooling in the property market.

The growth in real estate investment is down nearly 0.5 percent down from the figures recorded through the first half.

For more on the new numbers, the Beijing Hour's Paul James spoke earlier with Cao Can, CRI's financial commentator.