BEIJING - Outstanding loans extended by China's financial institutions amounted to 98.56 trillion yuan ($15.26 trillion) by the end of March, the People's Bank of China, or the central bank, said on Wednesday.

This represented a 14.7-percent increase year on year, according to a report posted on the central bank's website.

Of the 98.56 trillion yuan, 37.56 trillion yuan were medium- and long-term loans, up 11.9 percent year on year.

Outstanding loans extended to small businesses rose by 14.5 percent year on year to 18.75 trillion yuan by the end of March, up 0.6 percentage points from the end of 2015, the report said.

Loans to China's real estate sector continued to rise at a steady pace as the property market began to show signs of recovery.

By the end of March, financial institutions in China had lent 22.51 trillion yuan to the property sector, up 22.2 percent year on year.