BEIJING -- China has increased lending support for the private sector, with new loans to private enterprises reaching 5 trillion yuan (about $782 billion) in the first 10 months of 2021, according to China's top banking and insurance regulator.

The amount accounted for 53.5 percent of the total new corporate loans in the 10 months, 1.8 percentage points higher than the level at the beginning of this year, data from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) showed.

Outstanding loans to private enterprises by banking financial institutions stood at 53.1 trillion yuan as of September this year, 15 trillion yuan more than the level at the end of 2018.

In the same period, the number of private firms with outstanding loans increased from 25.84 million to 77.62 million.

Financing costs for private enterprises have been on the decline. In the first three quarters of this year, the annual interest rate for new loans to private firms was 5.3 percent, 1.6 percentage points lower than the 2018 level.

The CBIRC will further push for implementing measures boosting financial services for private enterprises and urge banking and insurance institutions to continue improving their service, said a spokesperson with the commission.