BEIJING, Aug. 16 -- The People's Bank of China, the central bank, announced Wednesday that it decided to provide 35 billion yuan (4.86 billion U.S. dollars) in new loans to commercial banks to support small and micro-sized enterprises and agriculture and rural areas affected by disasters.

In a statement, the central bank said that the new loans would cover six regions, including the municipalities of Beijing and Chongqing and the Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Fujian provinces, and support these regions' post-disaster reconstruction efforts.

Due to typhoons, extreme rainfall struck many parts of China, causing floods and geological disasters that led to casualties and property losses this year.

The statement said the new loans would strengthen credit support for business entities in the disaster-stricken areas, specifically small and micro-sized firms, the agricultural sector, livestock firms, and farmers.