Loans to manufacturers in Guangdong province, China's largest provincial economy, saw their greatest growth since 2013 — 21.2 percent year-on-year — in the first three quarters of this year.

The loans totaled 1.78 trillion yuan ($265.58 billion) as of the end of September, the Guangzhou Branch of People's Bank of China said on Monday.

The remarkable growth is attributable to greater cash demand in the manufacturing sector as it battle the effects of the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year, combined with the recovery of the sector since the second quarter and efforts to expand the availability of capital to support the sector, said Wang Yirong, deputy director of the statistics and analysis department of the bank branch.

Significant growth in medium- and long-term loans were recorded in electronics, pharmaceuticals and machinery, the most dynamic industries in Guangdong, Wang said at a news conference in Guangzhou on Monday.