China’s cash crunch deepened on Wednesday after the central bank withheld funding from the financial system, putting pressure on overextended lenders.

周三中国流动性紧缩加深，此前中国央行拒绝向金融体系注入资金，给放贷过度的银行带来压力。

Short-term interbank rates jumped more than 200 basis points, setting a record high at nearly 8 per cent for loans of one month or less, the latest indication of how credit has suddenly become very tight in China.

短期银行间拆借利率飙升逾200基点，使得一月期及以下贷款利率达到创纪录的近8%。这是表明中国信贷状况突然趋紧的最新迹象。

The main reason for the tightness has been the central bank’s reluctance to pump liquidity in to the money market, wrongfooting banks that had expected Beijing would support them with large cash injections, as it had regularly done before.

紧张的主要原因是央行不愿向货币市场注入流动性，这使期待官方像以往那样大量注入现金支持它们的银行措手不及。

Signalling that the cash crunch could persist for a while, the China Securities Journal, a major state-run newspaper, ran a front-page commentary saying China was at a turning point in monetary policy.

官方重要报纸《中国证券报》(China Securities Journal)在头版发表评论文章称，中国处于货币政策的转折点，暗示现金短缺可能持续一段时间。

“We cannot use as fast money supply growth as in the past, or even faster, to promote economic growth,” the newspaper said. “This means that authorities must control the pace of money supply growth.”

报纸称：“不能再用以往的甚至更高的货币增长速度推动经济增长。这意味着，有关部门将会控制货币增长速度。”

Interbank rates began to rise earlier in June before a public holiday last week, a normal pattern before festivals in China when demand for cash increases. Bankers and analysts had expected rates to fall when the country got back to work.

银行间利率于6月早些时候（即上周的公共假日端午节之前）开始上升，这是正常现象——中国的现金需求在节日前夕往往上涨。银行家和分析师曾预计，当假期结束、人们回到工作岗位上之后，利率将回落。

Instead, over the past five working days, the central bank has remained on the sidelines of the market, refusing to provide the short-term cash injections that banks had been hoping to see. On Tuesday, the People’s Bank of China added to the pressure by draining Rmb2bn ($325m) from the market.

但在过去5个工作日内，央行一直在市场边上观望，拒绝像各银行希望看到的那样，注入短期现金。周二，央行还从市场回笼20亿元人民币（3.25亿美元）流动性，进一步增加了压力。

“The only explanation is that the central bank wants to send a warning signal to commercial banks and other credit issuers that unchecked credit expansion, particularly through the shadow banking system, will not be accommodated,” said Na Liu with CNC Asset Management.

“唯一的解释是，央行希望向商业银行和其他信贷发放机构发出警告：无节制的信贷扩张，特别是通过影子银行体系实现的信贷扩张，是不被容忍的，”加拿大CNC资产管理公司(CNC Asset Management)的刘纳表示。