Lending to China's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rose faster than loans to large enterprises last year, highlighting the government's efforts to optimize the loan structure, according to the People's Bank of China, the central bank.

Outstanding loans to small enterprises by banks and financial institutions jumped 29.3 percent year on year to 7.55 trillion yuan ($1.15 trillion) in 2010, while loans to medium-sized enterprises stood at 10.13 trillion yuan ($1.54 trillion), up 17.8 percent. Outstanding loans to large enterprises rose 13.3 percent to 13.42 trillion yuan ($2.04 trillion).

Nearly 99 percent of Chinese enterprises are SMEs and are responsible for 60 percent of the country's GDP.