Guangdong’s first-half financing growth was accompanied by a higher direct-financing share, lower borrowing costs, stronger tech and cross-border activity, and wider use of yuan settlement and Greater Bay Area connectivity tools.
Guangdong recorded 1.8 trillion yuan in incremental aggregate social financing in the first half of 2026, up 179.9 billion yuan from a year earlier, while officials said funding growth broadly matched nominal GDP and increasingly supported the real economy through a higher share of direct financing and more targeted credit. By end-June, outstanding aggregate social financing stood at 44.2 trillion yuan, up 7.2% year on year, with outstanding local and foreign currency loans at 31 trillion yuan, up 4.7%, and deposits at 40.5 trillion yuan, up 7.4%. Direct financing for non-financial enterprises, including bonds, equities and local government bonds, rose 677.3 billion yuan in the first half, up 221 billion yuan year on year, accounting for 38.6% of new social financing, 9.6 percentage points higher than a year earlier. Guangdong enterprises issued 489.1 billion yuan of interbank bonds, up 7.2% and ranking second nationwide, while 19 private firms issued 82.3 billion yuan, up 28%, the highest private-enterprise issuance volume in the country. Credit allocation continued shifting toward policy-priority sectors. The "Five Key Areas" - technology finance, green finance, inclusive finance, pension finance and digital finance - contributed more than 90% of incremental loan growth since the start of the year. By end-June, loans to high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services rose 17.8% and 22.9%, respectively, while agriculture-related loans, county-level loans, loans to eastern, western and northern Guangdong, and loans to private enterprises also increased. In June, the average interest rate on newly issued corporate loans by Guangdong financial institutions fell to 2.60%, down 0.21 percentage points from a year earlier. Cross-border activity remained strong, with total receipts and payments reaching $1.4 trillion, up 17.5%, and net capital inflows at $162.1 billion, up 10.4%. Cross-border yuan settlement climbed 24.1% and accounted for more than 55% of total cross-border receipts and payments. Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area drew more than 180,000 participants, with transfers totaling 140.3 billion yuan.