China central bank vows to keep credit growth stable

China's central bank on Friday said that it would leverage various monetary tools to keep liquidity at an ample level while ensuring stable credit growth.

While the country's macro leverage ratio may likely rise, it will stay within a reasonable range, the People's Bank of China said in an online statement.

The statement came after the release of April's credit growth data, which showed a sharp contraction in new yuan-denominated loans from the level in March, reflecting a decline in financing demand from companies partly due to the pandemic impact.

The central bank will continue to lower the financing cost for companies and offer targeted support to those hit hardest by the pandemic. Friday's data also showed that the M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 10.5 percent year on year at the end of last month.

Bordeaux face relegation from Ligue 1 for the first time in 31 years this weekend, but the fallout for a club deep in financial turmoil risks extending far beyond simply dropping down a division.

The six-time French champions realistically need to win their final two games, at home to Lorient on Saturday and at Brest on May 21, to have a shot at finishing in the relegation playoff place.

However, their fate would be sealed if SaintEtienne beat Reims or Nantes, condemning one of France's most successful clubs to an uncertain future and the threat of bankruptcy.

Bordeaux have been in peril since April of last year when former owners King Street, an American financial group, appointed an administrator saying they wanted out after buying the team in 2018 for 100 million euros ($104 million).

They were provisionally relegated to the second division in July over financial irregularities, but the ruling was overturned after the league's financial watchdog approved a takeover plan put together by businessman Gerard Lopez.

"It's a rescue mission," Lopez told Le Monde newspaper upon his arrival last summer. "There are red lights flashing everywhere.

"There is an enormous wage bill, very little income and huge losses. We will need three to six months to stabilise the situation."

Lopez was pushed out as president of Lille in December 2020 after building the club into title contenders while amassing debts of more than 120 million euros.

He likened the restoration project at Bordeaux to "climbing Kilimanjaro without oxygen", a chillingly apt description for a club now gasping for air.

Lopez rolled the dice on Vladimir Petkovic, the

Switzerland coach who knocked France out of Euro 2020. The gamble backfired and Bordeaux cut their losses in February.

The promised rebuild failed to take off, a squad comprised of young and old struggled to blend and Petkovic's successor David Guion has fared no better than the Bosnian.

The team's highest earners were singled out-former Arsenal and France defender Laurent Koscielny was frozen out-and January recruits Josuha Guilavogui and Marcelo changed little.

Bordeaux won the last of their French league titles in 2009 and lifted the cup in 2013, but the club has been drifting on the field for some time.