BEIJING - Outstanding loans by Chinese financial institutions to small and micro businesses stood at 19.31 trillion yuan ($2.8 trillion) by the end of June, up 15.5 percent year on year, central bank data showed on Thursday.

With authorities encouraging loans to small and micro businesses to help shore up the economy, the growth rate of such loans exceeded the growth rate of loans to big- and mid-sized enterprises by 4.6 and 8.2 percentage points, respectively, said the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

Outstanding loans to small and micro businesses accounted for 30.7 percent of the total outstanding loans to enterprises at the end of June, up 1.2 percentage points year on year, according to the PBOC.

The central bank stressed the need to give more support to small businesses and the rural sector, both of which generally have less access to bank lending compared to large, state-owned firms.