Bank of China (BOC) said Thursday its outstanding loans stood at nearly 1.6 trillion yuan (235.3 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of January, up 87.29 billion yuan compared with the beginning of the year.

The newly issued loans were mainly given to government-supported industries, including infrastructure construction, after-quake building, mergers and acquisitions as well as technological innovations, said BOC.

The move has started since the end of last year, when the bank began to lend more to transportation and energy sectors, and backed up domestic companies in making overseas investment programs, it said.

BOC reported 250 billion yuan of newly-increased loans in year 2008 compared with 2007, which was 90 billion yuan above the targeted sum, according to the bank.

(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2009)