From The Financial Times:

China is to extend a clampdown on new bank lending into next year because of fears that rising inflation could become unmanageable, according to bankers, officials and economists.

An annual economic policy meeting of top political and economic leaders that wraps up on Wednesday in Beijing is expected to decide to cap the value of new loans that banks can extend in 2008 at the same level as this year. In the first 10 months of this year, before a crackdown on new loan growth was implemented, domestic and foreign banks in China had extended Rmb3,505bn ($474bn) in new loans. [Full Text]