HONG KONG — Chinese lending unexpectedly and drastically slowed in July to the lowest level since the depths of the global financial crisis, with a weak property market appearing to drive down demand for new loans despite recent moves to ease credit. A broad measure of new credit was 273.1 billion renminbi, or $44.3 billion, in July, the central bank reported on its website Wednesday. That is the lowest monthly total since October 2008, the month before China announced a huge stimulus program that was seen as key to China’s success in avoiding the deep recessions experienced in the United States and Europe. In an unusual step, the People’s Bank of China issued a separate statement that offered some explanations for the weakness of the July credit figures, citing better supervision of the so-called shadow lending sector, a natural slowdown after strong credit expansion in June of almost 2 […]