The central bank has tried to strike a balance between financial deleveraging, aimed at defusing risks and shoring up economic growth.

"Progress has been made in the financial sector in terms of supporting the ongoing reform and economic transition," said Ruan.

She cited figures that up to 82.5 percent of the new medium and long-term lending in the first half has flowed into service and high-tech manufacturing industries, while only 5.4 percent of the outstanding loans by the end of June belonged to industries with excess capacity.

Latest loan data also revealed milder growth in mortgage lending with outstanding real estate loans up 24.2 percent year on year, down 2.8 percentage points from six months ago.

Ruan also dismissed concerns over the slowing M2 growth, saying it should be regarded "objectively" as it was the natural result of prudent and neutral monetary policy and strengthened financial scrutiny.

Lower M2 growth is likely to become normal, and there is no need for excessive interpretation, she said.

China's M2 growth target this year was set at around 12 percent, one percentage point lower than the 2016 target.

Lian Ping, economist with the Bank of Communications, said credit demand would weaken in the second half due to less financing needs from the infrastructure sector and dampened mortgage demand following continued government curbs in real estate.

He expects that full-year credit will grow by about 12.5 percent, with new yuan loans to stand at around 13.5 trillion yuan for 2017.

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