BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China's biggest commercial lender, reported a net profit increase of 5 percent in the first half year.
The company's net profit stood at 168.69 billion yuan (23.83 billion U.S. dollars) in the first six months, according to its financial report filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The profit growth was faster than an increase of 4.1 percent in 2018.
At the end of June, the non-performing loan ratio was 1.48 percent, down 0.04 percentage points from the beginning of the year.
The ratio had dropped for ten consecutive quarters for ICBC, the report said.
In the January-June period, the loans of ICBC increased by 851.3 billion yuan over the end of last year, and the loans for domestic projects expanded by 253.7 billion yuan over the beginning of this year, accounting for 54.9 percent of the increment of corporate loans.
The bank's loan balance for small and micro enterprises rose by 130.1 billion yuan over the beginning of the year, up more than 40 percent. Loans to private enterprises rose by 134 billion yuan, or 7.6 percent, from the beginning of the year, according to the report.
