China's top four banks extended 140 billion yuan ($22 billion) of new loans in October, the China Securities Journal reported on Tuesday.

The banks lent just 80 billion yuan in the first 20 days of the month, but pushed out 60 billion yuan of loans during Oct 21-27, the official newspaper reported, citing banking sources.

Eleven economists surveyed in a Reuters poll expect total new yuan lending to have eased slightly to 450 billion yuan last month, from 470 billion yuan in September.

Total new lending, which totaled 5.7 trillion yuan in the first nine months of the year, is expected to reach around 7.5 trillion yuan for 2011, the paper said.

"This means credit policy in the fourth quarter is expected to remain relatively relaxed," it said.

The central bank directed early this year Chinese banks to lend a total of 7 to 7.5 trillion yuan for 2011, compared with actual lending of 7.95 trillion yuan last year.

Many market watchers expect the government to begin easing its tight liquidity policy in the fourth quarter on slowing economic growth in the world's second-largest economy and hope that inflation has peaked.

Xu Ce, an official from the State Information Center, said China's economic growth will slow further but saw little chance for a hard landing in the fourth quarter.

"So a full easing in monetary policy is not likely. Policy will remain relatively stable," Xu wrote in the same newspaper.

China's big four State-owned banks are Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China.