YINCHUAN, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region will continue to expand its financial support for poverty alleviation, planning to grant 3 billion yuan (433 million U.S. dollars) of credit this year.

The funds will support industrial cultivation, infrastructure construction and public services such as education, medical care and housing, according to the local financial supervision administration of the region.

The region will also extend the upper age limit of impoverished petty-loan applicants from 60 to 65, said the administration.

By the end of last year, outstanding small loans reached 7.55 billion yuan, with the loans covering 80 percent of the poor households. The average loan amount reached 50,000 yuan per household, according to the administration.

China has targeted eradicating absolute poverty in 2020. By the end of last year, there were still over 5.5 million people living under the poverty line across the country, including 18,800 in Ningxia.