Non-performing loans at the big four stateowned commercial banks rose by 3 per cent to Yn2,374bn between December 2001 and June 2002, according to a report compiled by US investment bank Salomon Smith Barney. Over the same period, the banks reported a drop in the ratio of bad loans to assets from 29 to 28 per cent, but the report estimated that the actual ratio at June 2002 was 32 per cent.
A People's Bank of China report claimed that the average non-performing loan ratio for mainland banks fell 4.5 percentage points in 2002. Analysts said that very high loan growth over the year diluted the ratio.