URUMQI, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region last year expanded loans to agricultural entities in a bid to promote agricultural modernization and boost rural development, the Urumqi branch of the People's Bank of China said on Thursday.

By the end of 2021, the outstanding amount of agriculture-related loans in Xinjiang had reached 1.02 trillion yuan (about 160 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 40.1 percent of all loans, an increase of 2.3 percentage points over the previous year, official data shows.

To consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation and comprehensively promote rural vitalization, financial institutions in Xinjiang have strengthened financial services by expanding financing channels, said Xu Ke, deputy director of the branch.

The balance of agriculture-related loans in Xinjiang increased 158.39 billion yuan in 2021, up 18.3 percent year on year and 3.8 percentage points higher than the previous year in terms of growth.