BEIJING -- China's new yuan-denominated lending in September stood at 623.2 billion yuan ($98.45 billion), an increase of 153.9 billion yuan from a year earlier, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, announced on Friday.

The figure represents a decrease from the 703.9 billion yuan in new yuan loans registered in August.

The new figure brings the nation's total new yuan loans in the first three quarters of the year to 6.72 trillion yuan, up 1.04 trillion yuan year-on-year, the PBOC data showed.

Preliminary data released by the central bank also showed that social financing, a measure of funds raised by entities in the real economy, hit 1.65 trillion yuan in September, up 404.1 billion yuan from August and 1.22 trillion yuan from a year earlier.

In the first three quarters, the nation's social financing added up to 11.73 trillion yuan, up 1.92 trillion yuan year-on-year, the data showed.