SHANGHAI (AFP) - New loans from Chinese banks are expected to reach about 600 billion yuan (S$127.4 billion) in May, roughly the same as April, local media reported Wednesday.

New loans have been extended at a moderately fast pace, and the accumulated sum for the first half of the year will likely total around six trillion yuan, the China Securities Journal said, citing sources at major banks.

China has ordered its banks, which are mostly state-controlled, to ratchet up lending in a bid to boost economic growth and ward off the worst effects of the global crisis.

They lent a total of 4.58 trillion yuan in the first quarter, close to the target of five trillion yuan set by Beijing as the minimum for the whole year.

But April's figure of 591.8 billion yuan was less than a third of the monthly record of 1.890 trillion yuan lent in March owing to worries over banks' ability to fend off credit risk.

New loans for the whole year will stand at around eight trillion yuan, the newspaper said, suggesting that in the second half they will only be about one third of the size recorded in the first half.

"Loan growth will gradually ease in the second half-year," Guo Shikun, research manager at China Construction Bank, told the newspaper.

"Commercial banks will be increasingly conscious of the accumulated credit risks from robust loan growth even though the banking regulators will not set too many limits on lending," Guo said.