BEIJING, Feb. 15 -- China's total outstanding medium- and long-term loans for the industrial sector amounted to 21.83 trillion yuan (about 3.07 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2023, up 28 percent year on year, China's central bank said.

Outstanding medium- and long-term loans for the heavy industry sector came in at 18.62 trillion yuan, marking an increase of 28 percent from the end of 2022, while that for the light industry sector went up 27.9 percent to 3.2 trillion yuan, according to a report released by the People's Bank of China.

The report showed that in 2023, China's medium- and long-term loans for the service and infrastructure sectors also maintained a high growth rate.

Loans in the service sector increased by 12.4 percent to 61.48 trillion yuan, while the balance of loans in the infrastructure sector grew by 15 percent from the same period of 2022.