Chinese banks have opened credit lines of 82.7 billion yuan (11.9 billion dollars) to earthquake-stricken southwestern Sichuan province, the banking regulatory agency said Thursday.
Banks have already extended loans worth 6.5 billion yuan for relief and reconstruction to applicants in Sichuan, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in a statement.
More than 80,000 people were left either dead or missing by the magnitude-8.0 earthquake that struck Sichuan and neighbouring provinces on May 12, with more than five million others left homeless.
The banking regulator said that as of Wednesday more than 90 percent of bank outlets in the quake-affected regions have returned to normal operations.
The Chinese government said earlier this week that industry in Sichuan suffered an estimated loss of 67 billion yuan from the devastating earthquake.
It also said Thursday that commercial enterprises lost more than 20 billion yuan. It was unclear if the figure overlapped.
In a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Wednesday, the government ordered 25 billion yuan for relief operations and 70 billion yuan for reconstruction.
