Micro-credit firms hit 7,839

The number of micro-credit companies in China hit 7,839 by the end of 2013, with their outstanding loans totaling 819.1 billion yuan ($135.4 billion), the central bank said Sunday.

The micro-credit companies issued 226.8 billion yuan in new loans in 2013, it said.

Micro-credit companies in East China's Jiangsu Province had 114.29 billion yuan in outstanding loans, the highest amount among those in 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. Jiangsu also had the highest number of micro-credit companies in the country, totaling 573, the central bank said.