BEIJING — Chinese banks last year strengthened their financial support for agricultural development, data from the central bank shows.

Outstanding agriculture-related loans stood at 38.95 trillion yuan (about $6.05 trillion) at the end of 2020, up 10.7 percent year-on-year, according to the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

Outstanding loans issued to rural borrowers totaled 32.27 trillion yuan as of last year, up 11.9 percent year-on-year, 3.6 percentage points higher than the level at the end of 2019.

Outstanding loans to farming households rose 14.2 percent from a year ago to 11.81 trillion yuan, and outstanding loans in the agricultural industry went up 7.5 percent year-on-year to 4.27 trillion yuan, according to the PBOC.

China's financial system will step up efforts to effectively support the real economy, said PBOC governor Yi Gang earlier this year.

Commercial banks will be encouraged to expand loans for agriculture, rural areas and farmers, as well as small and micro-sized businesses and the manufacturing sector, Yi said.