The June credit figure, according to official data released July 15, followed a sharp hike in formal bank lending between April and May, suggesting that recent government efforts to increase the state-owned banking sector's share of nationwide financing are on course. It is difficult to overstate the scale and intensity of the transformation undergone by China's financial system since the 2008 global financial crisis , which compelled the Chinese government to embark on what now looks likely to become a decadelong (or longer) stimulus drive. In 2007, state banks issued 3.6 trillion yuan worth of new loans. Their lending has since increased each year, reaching 11 trillion yuan in 2015. Meanwhile, total social financing — encompassing state-controlled and informal loans — ballooned to 15.9 trillion yuan last year.