Banks cut down bad debts sharply in 2004

China's four state-owned and a dozen joint-stock banks either recovered or wrote off 394.6 billion yuan (47.7 billion US dollars) in non-performing loans (NPLs) in 2004, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) reported Thursday.

The banks' outstanding NPLs totaled 1.72 trillion yuan (approximately 208 billion dollars), an average NPL ratio of 13.2 percent at the end of last year, 4.6 percent less than in 2003.

The NPL ratios of state-owned and joint-stock banks were 15.6 and 4.9 percent, respectively, at the year end, the regulator said.

Source: Xinhua