CHINA> National
More financing support in agriculture, for SMEs
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-12 20:34

BEIJING -- The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, said Sunday that it would beef up support to the agriculture and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that had financing difficulties.

Related readings:
More financing support in agriculture, for SMEs High-tech sector to get more backing
More financing support in agriculture, for SMEs Renewable energy sector gets a big push
More financing support in agriculture, for SMEs Premier urges support for private sector amid crisis
More financing support in agriculture, for SMEs Officials hail govt plan to boost jobs, export sector

A statement on the PBOC website said the monetary policy committee agreed at its first-quarter meeting to endeavor to improve the loans structure and tightly control loans targeted at high energy-consuming, high polluting industries and those with excessive production capacity.

The central bank said it would continue the relatively easy monetary policy to guarantee enough new loans to support domestic economic development.

Credit extended by China's banks in the first quarter hit 4.58 trillion yuan (UD$670 billion), PBOC figures revealed Saturday. In March alone, new yuan-denominated loans increased 1.89 trillion yuan, the third straight month that new loans had exceeded 1 trillion yuan.

"China will continue financial reforms and innovation, step up risk control and improve financial institutions' risk-proofing capabilities," said the statement.