He said the central bank's efforts in this respect had achieved marked results over the past two years, and by the end of September, 90 percent of rural credit cooperatives had granted small credit loans, with the outstanding total reaching 78.9 billion yuan (US$9.54 billion US dollars), an increase of 139 percent over the beginning of the year.

The rise of small credit loans had eased farmers' difficulties in getting loans, promoted economic development and increased farmers' incomes, and pushed forward rural credit cooperatives' reforms and management improvement, the spokesman said.

Small credit loans are designed for rural households according to their economic conditions and credit records. They do not need any guarantee or mortgage, and enjoy discounted interest rates.

Statistics from the central bank show that by the end of September, the outstanding farming loans by rural credit cooperatives stood at 578.2 billion yuan, increasing by 137.3 billion yuan over the beginning of the year, and farming loans accounted for 41 percent of all loans granted by rural credit cooperatives, up from 23 percent in 1997.

To date, 25 percent of all of the country's rural households had received small credit loans, the spokesman said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2002)