BEIJING - Micro-credit companies mushroomed in China in recent years, China's central bank said Tuesday.
The number of micro-credit companies increased to 2,614 by the end of 2010, from fewer than 500 in 2008, the People's Bank of China said in a statement on its website.
Micro-credit companies, which employed more than 27,800 staff nationwide, issued 120.2 billion yuan ($18.21 billion) in new loans in 2010 while their outstanding loans hit 197.5 billion yuan.
The Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Liaoning province and Jiangsu province ranked as the top three in the number of micro-credit companies, having 286, 204, and 194 companies, respectively.
Micro-lending companies have become an important component and supplementary power of China's credit market. They have also been important routes for private capital to enter the financial market, the statement noted.
