10/06/2009 Source: Xinhua

The amount of non-cash payments in China’s eastern coastal region started to rise in the second quarter this year after three consecutive quarters of decline, according to the People’s Bank of China.

Non-cash payments, including commercial papers and bank cards, in China’s eastern provinces went up 2.3 percent in the second quarter this year, the central bank said in its latest report.

China saw its first-ever decline in non-cash payments in the third quarter last year, a proof of a less active economy amid the global economic downturn, according to a central bank report.

In the second quarter, transactions made with non-cash payment tools rose 25 percent to 4.44 billion times valued at 157.5 trillion yuan (23.06 trillion U.S. dollars), according to the report.

The report also showed non-cash payments in China’s central, western and northeastern regions grew faster than in the east, by 26.4 percent, 10.5 percent and 52.5 percent year on year respectively.