The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, said in a report Thursday that money supply growth had dropped into a "rational" range.

By the end of 2004, the outstanding amount of M2, the broad measure of money supply including money in circulation and all deposits, stood at 25.3 trillion yuan (3.1 trillion US dollars), up 14.6 percent over 2003.

But the growth was five percentage points lower than a year earlier. The outstanding amount of M1, the narrow measure of money supply including money in circulation and demand deposits of enterprises, rose by 13.6 percent.

The increase was 5.1 percentage points less than a year ago. The central bank said that the central government's macro-economic control policies helped to bring the growth of M2, which powers economic growth, back to a "rational" range beginning last August.

"The growth of money supply is rational as the country's economic expansion is concerned," according to the report.