China's new yuan-denominated lending in February stood at 700.1 billion yuan (102.65 billion U.S. dollars), half that of January's 1.39 trillion yuan, the People's Bank of China (PBOC, the central bank) said Thursday.

China's yuan-denominated lending in 2009 hit a record 9.59 trillion yuan, almost double that of the previous year.

According to PBOC, as of the end of February, the broad measure of money supply M2, which covers cash in circulation and all deposits, rose 25.52 percent from a year earlier to 63.6 trillion yuan. The growth rate was 0.56 percentage points lower than the figure for January.

The narrow measure of money supply, M1 (cash in circulation plus current corporate deposits), jumped 34.99 percent to 22.43 trillion yuan. The growth rate was 3.97 percentage points lower than the figure for January.

The outstanding amount of M0, or cash in circulation, amounted to 4.29 trillion yuan, up 21.98 percent from the same period last year.

In February, net amount of cash put into circulation stood at 210.7 billion yuan, 804.8 billion yuan more than that in February last year, according to the PBOC statement.

At the end of February, outstanding loans by all financial institutions reached 42.07 trillion yuan, up 27.23 percent year on year.

Total yuan-denominated deposits at all financial institutions stood at 62.25 trillion yuan, an increase of 24.97 percent from a year earlier.