More than 68 billion HK dollars (about 8.76 billion U.S. dollars) have been approved so far by banks under the government's Special Loan Guarantee Scheme, an HKSAR official said on Wednesday.

John Tsang, financial secretary of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said in his Budget Speech for 2010 that the loans had benefited over 16,000 enterprises and indirectly preserved jobs for 280,000 or so employees.

The application period for the Special Loan Guarantee Scheme has been extended to end-June 2010 by the government to counter the credit crunch triggered by the global financial crisis.

"I will closely monitor the pace of our economic recovery over the next few months and consider when to let the credit market resume normal operation." Tsang added.