A senior Chinese central bank official said on Friday that financing conditions had improved for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in recent months, reflecting government moves to increase their access to loans.

Yi Gang, vice governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), cited a record increase in total loans and a surge in the amount of commercial paper, which is often used or held by SMEs.

"Many small and medium-sized enterprises probably secured more loans from commercial banks, as total loans made in the first 10 months reached a record high of 3.66 trillion yuan ($535.9 billion)," Yi told a press conference in Beijing.

Yi pointed out that the PBOC in August raised this year's credit quota by 5 percent for national commercial banks and 10 percent for local commercial banks. The move was aimed at easing the financial difficulties of SMEs.

Central bank statistics showed that commercial paper increased by 60.8 billion yuan in October, the largest rise ever. That gain was 15 percent more than the rise of 52.8 billion yuan recorded in August.