The country's commercial banks reported a sharp decline both in non-performing loans (NPLs) and the NPL ratio last year, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said yesterday.

The NPL ratio of lenders, including foreign banks, was 2.45 percent at the end of last year, down 3.71 percentage points from 2007, and outstanding NPLs fell by 700.24 billion ($102 billion) to 568.18 billion yuan. The banks' total assets at home reached 62.4 trillion yuan at the end of last year, up 18.6 percent.

Xinhua