The size of new Chinese loans in January could be between 900 billion to 1 trillion yuan ($143 billion to $158 billion), Reuters reported Friday, citing the China Securities Journal.

In the first three days after the New Year holiday, the four big Chinese banks, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China , Agricultural Bank of China , Bank of China and China Construction Bank, lent a total of 50 billion yuan and within the first 10 days lent 110 billion yuan.

The newspaper quoted banking sources as saying the central bank has allowed five State-owned commercial banks to increase credit in the first quarter by 5 percent.

China central bank regional branches have asked banks to refrain from lending too much in the early part of the year -- a time when banks typically boost loans to lay a foundation for good operational results for the year, banking sources told Reuters earlier this month.

China's banks ratcheted up lending in the last month of 2011 on the back of stronger money supply, extending 640.5 billion yuan in new loans in December, up from 562.2 billion yuan in November, data from the People's Bank of China showed early this month.