China's social financing plunges in Jan

China's social financing in January this year fell by 800.1 billion yuan ($127 billion) from one year ago to 955.9 billion yuan, the central bank said Friday.

According to figures published by the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the new yuan-denominated lending totaled 738.1 billion yuan last month, down by 288.2 billion yuan compared with the same month last year.

Other data, including that of foreign-currency loans, corporate bonds and equity financing, also witnessed sharp falls. However, the PBOC did not provide any explanations for the declines.

A seasonal aberration due to the week-long traditional Lunar New Year holiday might help explain the drop. The holiday, which means less working days for banks, financial institutions and enterprises in January, has distorted many other economic indicators. The holiday fell in February in 2011.

The central bank said in its quarterly monetary policy report on Wednesday that China will maintain a reasonable level of social financing in 2012 to maintain economic growth and keep price rises stable.

The country's social financing was an aggregated 12.83 trillion yuan in 2011, down 1.11 trillion yuan from the previous year.