BEIJING - The Agricultural Bank of China, the country's fourth largest lender, said Friday that it lent 1.24 trillion yuan ($193.36 billion) in loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) during the first eight months of the year.

By the end of August, the bank's outstanding loans to SMEs hit 2.1 trillion yuan, up 7.82 percent from the beginning of the year, of which, 540 billion yuan in loans were issued to small companies.

The Beijing-based lender said it has provided financial services for over 2.5 million SMEs and given credit support to more than 66,000 SMEs so far.

The bank said it will continue to help SMEs broaden their financing channels and launch more financing products that are tailored to their needs in order to reduce the difficulties SMEs have been facing in securing funds.