All financial institutions in Hebei province extended 165.5 billion yuan ($24.4 billion) of new yuan-denominated loans in the first half of 2010, according to the Shijiazhuang main branch of People's Bank of China, the central bank.

The loans extended in the first half of this year accounted for 63.65 percent of the 2010 planned loan amount of 260 billion yuan.

The Hebei Financial Stability Report 2010 warned that credit expanded “too fast” and said loans extended to some industries may face quite large risks. Details are available in this report.

The loans mainly went to the manufacturing sector, water resources and environmental projects, logistics, wholesale, retail and real estate in the first five months of this year, according to China News Agency.

By Song Jingli