BEIJING -- Outstanding loans extended by China's micro-credit companies amounted to 927.2 billion yuan (about 137.8 billion US dollars) by the end of March, central bank data showed Thursday.

The volume was down 27.3 billion yuan from the end of 2018, according to statistics from the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

By the end of last month, the number of micro-credit companies in China came in at 7,967, the PBOC said in an online statement.

Micro-lenders largely target small companies and low-income groups in need of capital. In recent years, micro-lending companies have become an important channel for medium and small firms as well as individuals to access funds.

East China's Jiangsu Province had 572 micro-credit companies by the end of March, the most of any provincial-level region, followed by Liaoning and Guangdong provinces, according to the PBOC.

Micro-credit firms in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality saw outstanding loans reach 146.4 billion yuan by the end of March, higher than other provincial-level regions.