The average non-performing loan ratio for major Chinese banks continued to drop in the first quarter, down 0.6 percent from the previous quarter to 8.3 percent.

The average non-performing loan(NPL) ratio for major Chinese banks continued to drop in the first quarter, falling 0.6 percentage points from the previous quarter to 8.3 percent, the country's banking regulator said on Saturday.

Sour loans racked up by major Chinese banks by the end of March totalled 1.21 trillion yuan($150.5 billion), the China Banking Regulatory Commission said.

The NPL ratio for China's state-owned banks slipped 0.7 percentage points in the first quarter to 9.8 percent, in single digits for the first time and bringing the amount of their bad loans to 1.06 trillion yuan, the regulator said in a statement on its Web site(www.cbrc.gov.cn).

Joint-stock commercial banks had a total 148 billion yuan of bad loans by the end of March, down 0.3 percentage points from the beginning of the year and accounting for 3.9 percent of their total lendings, the statement said.

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