China's central bank reassures on policy support

Says lending slump is temporary

China's central bank reassured investors that monetary policy will continue to support the economy after a sharp slowdown in new credit last month, and said the lending slump was temporary.

The deceleration in the growth of new yuan loans in April was mainly due to a pick-up in a programme to swap high-cost local government debt for cheaper municipal bonds, the People's Bank of China said in a statement on Saturday.