CHINA'S total financing shrank in the first three quarters from the same period a year ago due to the government's tighter monetary policy, central bank data showed yesterday.

The total financing totaled 9.8 trillion yuan (US$1.5 trillion) in the first nine months of this year, a decline of 1.26 trillion yuan from the same period last year, the People's Bank of China said on its website yesterday.

The PBOC began to disclose social financing data on a quarterly basis this year as loans alone don't show the full picture of monetary conditions in the country as the number of financing sources grows. The total social financing includes all funds raised by entities in the real economy.

In the first three quarters, yuan-denominated bank loans took up 58 percent of the total social financing, up 1 percentage point from a year ago.

The central bank said the data was compiled based on information collated from the regulators of the banking and securities industries, the country's top planning body, and the inter-bank market.

However, Fitch Ratings said in September that China's total social financing this year may top 18 trillion yuan, a rise of 3.5 trillion yuan from the official target due to inflow of non-banking liquidity.

Banks' letters of credit, trust product credit, funds from other non-banking financial institutions and loans from Hong Kong banks made up the 3.5 trillion yuan increase, according to Fitch.