The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's largest commercial bank, extended 16.94 billion yuan (US$2.37 billion) in loans over the past month to areas stricken by severe winter weather, company sources said on Wednesday.

The money went to disaster relief and restoration efforts by 119 enterprises.

Of the total, 4.7 billion yuan was used for power grid restoration and operation, 3.45 billion yuan for fuel oil supplies,2.16 billion yuan for highway maintenance, 1.5 billion yuan for coal purchases by electricity generating enterprises, 1.14 billion yuan for electricity generation, and 1.56 billion yuan for coal production.

The total also included 590 million yuan used to ensure passenger and cargo transportation and 30 million yuan for telecom cable restoration.

The sources said that ICBC had accepted loan applications for another 35 billion yuan for reconstruction projects.

In a related development, the Ministry of Finance allocated nine billion yuan from mid-January to mid-February for relief in areas affected by the severe winter weather.

Extreme weather left 107 people dead and eight missing. Losses were set at about 111.1 billion yuan. In all, 21 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities were affected. About 1.5 million people were relocated and 1.93 million had their trips interrupted by transport disruptions.

The unusual weather affected almost 24.4 million hectares of farmland and 18.6 million ha of forests and led to the collapse of about 354,000 houses.

(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2008)