The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, announced on Wednesday that it would provide another 1.5 billion yuan (215.5 million U.S. dollars) in reloans for financial institutions in Shaanxi, Chongqing and Yunnan that were hit by the deadly quake on May 12.

This move is to help local commercial banks and rural cooperatives in those areas to increase their liquidity and ability to support disaster relief and reconstruction, said the PBOC on its website.

The central bank last week provided 5.5 billion yuan in reloans to the hardest-hit provinces of Sichuan and Gansu.

The central government treasury system was functioning smoothly and 7.1 billion yuan in disaster relief funds had been appropriated from the central government treasury system to quake-hit areas between May 13 and 21, said the PBOC.

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2008)