(Bloomberg) -- China’s credit and new loans fell in April from the previous month, adding to concerns about the economy’s recovery.

• Aggregate financing, a broad measure of credit, reached 1.22 trillion yuan ($176 billion) in April, the People’s Bank of China said Thursday. That was lower than the median estimate of 2 trillion yuan in a Bloomberg survey of economists and compares with 933 billion yuan in the same month a year ago
• Financial institutions offered 718.8 billion yuan worth of new loans in the month, far below economists forecasts of 1.4 trillion yuan

The economy’s recovery has become increasingly uneven with factory activity contracting for the first time in months in April while consumer spending on services continuing to rebound. Weak inflation data published earlier Thursday also pointed to subdued domestic demand. 

April is traditionally a slow month for credit expansion following a surge in lending by banks at the year start. The base of comparison from last year was particularly low, as Shanghai went into a lockdown then and borrowing appetite took a heavy hit.

The PBOC has refrained from providing further stimulus after guiding banks to lend more in the first quarter to spur growth. Credit growth spiked in January-March, helping drive the economy’s debt ratio to a record high.

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