BEIJING -- Outstanding loans by Chinese financial institutions to private businesses stood at 40 trillion yuan (about $5.9 trillion) at the end of May, according to an official with China's top banking regulator.

This marked a 5.8 percent increase from the start of the year, said Yang Liping, with China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC).

Loans to private companies accounted for 51.48 percent of the country's total new corporate loans during the first five months.

With authorities encouraging loans to private businesses especially small companies to help shore up the economy, the growth rate of such loans has accelerated in recent years and lending rates kept falling.

The rate of interest charged on loans to private companies was 5.98 percent during the first five months, down 0.92 percentage points from 2018. Lending rates of loans to small and micro businesses fell to 6.89 percent, down 0.5 percentage points from last year.

China will continue to deepen financial supply-side structural reform and improve the policy environment to provide higher-quality and more effective financial services to small enterprises, according to a white paper released by the CBIRC earlier in late June.