Agricultural policy bank's NPL ratio down to 1.26%

BEIJING -- Agricultural Development Bank of China, one of the country's three policy banks, said Thursday that its non-performing loan ratio decreased to 1.26 percent by the end of June, down 0.2 percentage point from the end of last year.

The value of NPLs fell to 26.08 billion yuan ($4.14 billion) at the end of June, down 1.36 billion yuan from the end of 2011, according to a statement on the lender's website.

Operating profits jumped 32 percent from one year earlier to 21.31 billion yuan during the first half, the lender said without elaborating on the causes.

The bank's outstanding loans reached 2.07 trillion yuan at the end of June, up 10.67 percent from the start of this year, according to the statement.

The lender extended 175.14 billion yuan in loans to support agricultural development and rural infrastructure construction during the first six months.

The bank raised 287.4 billion yuan through bond issuance in the mainland and in Hong Kong in the first half, and it collected 42.13 billion yuan in low-cost deposits, the statement said.