BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- China Development Bank (CDB), a development financial institution, has issued 1.23 trillion yuan (about 174 billion U.S. dollars) of loans to support poverty relief efforts since 2016.

The loans went to financing relocation of the poor, rural infrastructure construction, industry development, and improving education, said Meng Yaping, a vice president with the bank's poverty alleviation finance division.

By the end of September, funding for relocation programs benefited over 3 million people, while loans worth 164.7 billion yuan reached nearly 12 million students.

Founded in 1994, the CDB is designed to provide finance to major national projects and development strategies. It has stepped up support for the country's battle against poverty, which is one of the "three tough battles" that the country must win to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020.

By the end of the second quarter of 2019, the outstanding loans for poverty alleviation of development and policy banks accounted for more than half of total poverty relief loans in the whole banking sector, according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.