BEIJING, May 8  -- Chinese banks' loans to small and micro businesses increased by 16.8 percent year on year to 21.4 trillion yuan (3.5 trillion U.S. dollars) by the end of March, the industry regulator said Friday.

The pace was 3.48 percentage points faster than average loan growth, said Zhou Mubing, vice chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC).

Of all small and micro businesses applying for loans, 90.18 percent were approved, up 4.08 percentage points from the previous year, Zhou said.

Banks have provided effective support to important economic fields. Loans to the agricultural sector gained 12.9 percent year on year to reach 24.6 trillion yuan, and affordable housing projects also got 1.4 trillion yuan in loans, a year on year increase of 63.2 percent, Zhou said.

Non-performing loans (NPL) of Chinese banks, which are in default or close to being in default, accounted for 1.39 percent of all outstanding loans at the end of March, CBRC data showed.

Chinese banks are well equipped against risks, with 2.1 trillion yuan of loan loss reserves at the end of March.