A withered wheat plant is seen in a dry field on the outskirts of Luanchen County, Hebei province February 18, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

BEIJING - China's central bank said Wednesday it will provide 10 billion yuan (1.52 billion U.S. dollars) of new loans to financial institutions in provinces severely hit by drought.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement on its website that it would guide financial institutions in drought-hit regions to provide loans to farmers to buy agricultural materials like seed, fertilizer and pesticide, and to improve infrastructure in rural areas.

The PBOC will allocate the loans to eight provinces, including Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shaanxi and Gansu, where a severely drought has persisted since last October, the statement said.