Chinese banks had extended 42 billion yuan (US$6.1 billion) in loans to the quake-ravaged southwest province of Sichuan as of Thursday.

The banks had signed agreements to lend out another 186.3 billion yuan (US$27.1 billion), the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said here.

The lenders also extended 4.9 billion yuan in credit (US$714 million) to the neighboring Chongqing, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces for emergency quake relief.

The May 12 quake may cause direct economic loss of up to 500 billion yuan (US$72.9 billion), according to the State Information Center, a government think tank.

The quake death toll was 69,185 as of Thursday noon, the State Council Information Office said. Another 18,457 were still missing.

The government also unveiled other policies to help the quake relief and reconstruction.

Last month, banks were told to write off timely bad loans caused by the quake if borrowers suffered huge losses that couldn't be covered by insurance, or the insurance or guarantees were not enough for the debts.

The regulator also urged banks to extend loan maturities and not to push for loan repayment if debtors in the quake-hit region fell behind in payments.

(Xinhua News Agency June 27, 2008)