China's top four State-owned banks extended 250 billion yuan ($40 billion) in new loans in the first half of this month, up from 180 billion yuan for the whole of February 2012, the 21st Century Business Herald newspaper reported Thursday.

The figure was for the first 17 days of the month.

China's "Big Four" banks are the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank Corp, Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China.

They account for 30 to 40 percent of total bank lending in the world's second-largest economy.

The top four banks lent 370 billion yuan in new loans in January, up from 210 billion yuan in December.