New bank loans in June totaled 360 billion yuan ($45 billion), down 102.7 billion yuan ($13 billion) from the same month in 2005, the Xinhua News Agency and newspapers said.

The decline "showed a slew of central bank moves meant to rein in excessive lending and cool down the economy, including an interest rate hike at the end of April, were working," Xinhua said.

Chinese leaders have taken increasingly drastic steps to slow down surging investment and economic growth -- raising interest rates and ordering banks to screen borrowers more carefully -- warning that they could ignite inflation and cause problems for the country's fragile banks.

Authorities have also imposed curbs on construction of new steel mills, luxury villas and other projects.

Still, Chinese leaders still want high growth to help the hundreds of millions of people, mostly in the countryside, who have been left behind by China's 27-year-old economic boom.

The announcement about lending Tuesday came a day after official newspapers said the growth in China's overall money supply slowed in June and import growth fell slightly, though to a still-robust 19 percent.