Chinese banks boost loans to SMEs

Lending hits US$2.58 trillion in May.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), the banking regulator, said this total was an increase of 21.35% year-on-year or US$178 billion from the beginning of 2012, It also accounted for 22.22% of the total banking loans in May. It is, however, only slightly higher than the 21.95% loan percentage in 2012.

Credit for small business in less-developed central and western China had grown 5.33 percentage points faster than that of the national average. Over 75% of loans went into pillar industries and to improving people's lives, CBRC claimed.

The Chinese government has told banks that credit growth to small enterprises should not be lower than that of total credit growth. The incremental amount should not be less than that recorded a year earlier.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said small businesses accounts for at least 90% of China’s enterprises and provides 80% of jobs.