Credit card debt in China at least six months overdue rose 131.3 percent year on year in the second quarter of 2009 to 5.77 billion yuan (US$845.24 million), the People's Bank of China, the central bank, said Wednesday.

Debts overdue by six months or more accounted for 3.1 percent of the total outstanding credit card debt at the end of June, or 0.7 of a percentage point more than in the same period last year.

The bank warned of potential risks of increasing overdue credit card debt as banks expanded the business.

By June 30, China's banks had issued 162.62 million credit cards, or 0.12 per person, up 32.9 percent from a year earlier.

In the first quarter this year, credit card debt at least six months overdue rose 133.1 percent from a year earlier to 4.97 billion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency September 17, 2009)