In the first half of 2008, outstanding deposits of financial institutions stood at RMB 45.0 trillion yuan, an increase of 17.8 percent year-on-year; outstanding loans of financial institutions registered RMB 30.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 15.2 percent year-on-year. The exchange rate of RMB displayed an overall appreciating trend.
More broadly, however, although the recent data suggest that the worrisome trend of disinflation presumably has come to an end, still-significant productivity growth and a sizable margin of underutilized resources, to date, have checked any sustained acceleration of the general price level and should continue to do so for a time.