China's loan balance to SMEs up 28% in Jan-Sept

Chinese financial institutions' loan balance to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) climbed 28 percent from the beginning of the year to 14.1 trillion yuan ($2.06 trillion) by the end of September, the central bank said Friday.

The non-performing loan rate was 4.05 percent by September, down 1.83 percentage points from the beginning of this year, the PBOC said in a statement on its official website.