BEIJING — China's inclusive finance loans expanded by 3.26 trillion yuan ($503.86 billion) in the first half of the year, 832.4 billion yuan more than the same period last year, the People's Bank of China said.

The balance of inclusive finance loans stood at 24.76 trillion yuan at the end of June, up 25.5 percent year-on-year and the growth rate was 1.3 percentage points higher than that at the end of 2020.

Of the total, the inclusive finance loans to small businesses increased by 2.65 trillion yuan, 673.4 billion yuan more than the same period last year. The balance of such loans stood at 17.74 trillion yuan by the end of June, up 31 percent year-on-year.

The balance of inclusive finance loans for farmers' agricultural activities stood at 6.59 trillion yuan, up 13.6 percent year-on-year.

The balance of start-up guarantee loans was 229.3 billion yuan, up 32.9 percent year-on-year. The balance of student loans totaled 123.8 billion yuan, up 11.2 percent year-on-year.