Zhou Xiaochuan (third from right), head of People's Bank of China, and Yi Gang (fourth from right), head of State Administration of Foreign Exchange, take questions from journalists from home and abroad during an ongoing press conference on March 12, 2015. [Photo / Xinhua]

The Silk Road Fund will target medium- and long-term projects that have strategic significance to support the "One Belt, One Road" initiative, Jin said.

It will invest particularly in projects involving ecological solar panel manufacturing, clean energy and ecological remediation in China and other countries along the belt.

"We will support our domestic high-tech companies to cooperate with countries along "the belt and road" and realize the mutual development and prosperity," Jin said.

Jin said the Silk Road Fund aims to cooperate with other private equity funds instead of competing with them or replacing them.

"The projects in general need a mix of debt and equity financing and provide more financing choices to projects that can achieve stable business returns in a medium- and long-term," Jin said.

PPI under control

China's producer price index (PPI) fluctuates wildly due to the country's “new normal”, as well as being influenced by changes in global commodities trade, Zhou said.

China's existing monetary policy guarantees liquidity in the financial market, but is still moderate, Zhou said.

China will continue to keep an eye on the PPI trend. Downward pressure on PPI will be controlled by a proactive fiscal policy and monetary policy, Yi added.

Background information

The central bank, following an earlier cut in November last year, announced a 25 basis point cut in benchmark interest rates from March 1, lowering the one-year lending and savings rate to 5.35 and 2.5 percent respectively.

The cut coincide with the weak economic data which showed the country's economy fell to its lowest level of growth in the first two months of the year since the financial crisis.