BEIJING - China reported a 13 percent rise in newly-added Renminbi bank loans in the first quarter of this year despite latest measures to curb loans growth, according to the People's Bank of China, or central bank.

The country newly added 1.42 trillion yuan (US$184 billion) of Renminbi bank loans, an increase of 167.8 billion yuan from the same period last year, the bank said in a report released on Thursday.

The outstanding loans of all financial institutions jumped 16.25 percent to 23.96 trillion yuan (US$3.1 trillion) at the end of March, 1.52 percentage point higher from the same period last year, according to the report.

The bank noted that a total 441.7 billion yuan of RMB bank loans were added in March, an decrease of 95.8 billion yuan from last March.