Sources have predicted Chinese banks' total loans in 2011 may be less than seven trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion), but more than six trillion yuan, Securities Times reported on Thursday.

China's central bank should restrict the lending quota in 2011, and "make it around six to seven trillion yuan," the newspaper quoted Wang Tao, head of China Economic Research at UBS Securities Co Ltd, as saying.

The government must concentrate more on managing inflation, as the country's exports and property constructions are developing strongly now, said Wang.

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"The lending may return to an ordinary scale compared with that of this year, and the total lending may be between 6.5 trillion yuan and 7 trillion yuan," said sources specializing in the banking sector at a large securities firm based in southern China.

"The central bank will slow down the growth of money supply next year, because of the overall inflation pressure," the newspaper quoted an analyst at a large bank in Beijing as saying.

"On the other hand, the need for loans will grow next year, as the economy is bottoming out. This trend is shown in the bounce back of short term loans," said the analyst.