According to data released by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). chinese banks extended a record 3.23 trillion yuan in net new yuan loans in January, eclipsing the last high of 2.9 trillion yuan in January 2018. Analysts had predicted new yuan loans of 2.9 trillion yuan last month, up from 1.08 trillion yuan of new loans in December.

Demand for credit picked up sharply in the corporate sector, followed by the household sector. Corporate loans jumped to 2.58 trillion yuan from 473.3 billion yuan in December, while household loans rose to 989.8 billion yuan from 450.4 billion yuan. Corporate loans accounted for 80 percent of new loans in January, up sharply from 44 percent in December.

Several other key credit gauges also picked up modestly in response to the PBOC’s recent shift to policy easing. Broad M2 money supply grew 8.4 percent in January from a year earlier, compared with 8.1 percent in December. Outstanding yuan loans grew 13.4 percent from a year earlier, easing from December’s rise of 13.5 percent.