China central bank says M2 growth expectations should be flexible: report

[SHANGHAI] China should remain flexible on M2 growth expectations and not be overly concerned about meeting numerical targets, People's Bank of China chief Zhou Xiaochuan told a news conference, the official Shanghai Securities News reported.

This year's growth target for China's M2 - a broad-based measure of money supply - is 12 per cent, but will be adjusted according to the needs of economic growth and may be higher, according to a working paper released during the annual full session of the National People's Congress, the country's parliament.

While assessing M2 supply is a useful indicator of economic health, as conditions change the connection between M2, the effect of macro-economic regulation and control, inflation and economic growth becomes unstable, the paper reported Zhou as telling the Friday news conference.

Zhou said other indicators, such as employment, growth and inflation were better measures of the real economy and central banks in many countries no longer considered M2 targets important.

Last year, China's M2 growth target was set at 13 per cent, while the actual growth rate was 12.2 per cent.

REUTERS