OVERALL bank lending in Shanghai slowed in October but home mortgages and loans to small enterprises increased, the Shanghai headquarters of China's central bank said yesterday.

Banks in Shanghai have extended new yuan loans worth 99.9 billion yuan (US$15.8 billion) in October, 6.51 billion yuan less than September and 21.4 billion less than the same month of last year, according to a statement by the Shanghai headquarters of the People's Bank of China.

New housing loans in Shanghai, however, totaled 2.1 billion yuan in October, 1.7 billion yuan more than September and 1.6 billion more than the same month of last year, the central bank said.

The outstanding loans to small firms at the end of last month grew 12.2 percent from the start of this year, fastest among loans to medium and big firms and 1.8 percentage points quicker than total lending.

On Monday, the Shanghai branch of the China Banking Regulatory Commission said the balance of yuan lending to small and medium-sized enterprises rose 61.8 billion yuan from the beginning of 2011 to 660.5 billion yuan at the end of September.

Source:shanghaidaily