BEIJING - Outstanding loans extended by China's micro-credit companies amounted to 976.3 billion yuan ($143.6 billion) by the end of June, according to central bank data Wednesday.

The volume was up 2.2 billion yuan from the end of 2017.

By the end of last month, the number of micro-credit companies in China came in at 8,394, the People's Bank of China said in an online statement.

Micro-lenders largely target small companies and low-income groups in need of capital. In recent years, micro-lending companies have become an important channel for medium and small firms as well as individuals to access funds.

The central bank report showed East China's Jiangsu province had 637 small-credit companies by June, the most of any provincial-level region, followed by northeastern provinces of Liaoning and Jilin.