Bank loans for real estate development and individual house
purchases have become the new focus of China's auditing authorities
after the real estate sector was exposed as a major hot-bed of the
country's non-performing bank loans.
Fan Peng, director of the Finance Department of the National
Audit Office said that the Agricultural Bank of China would be the
first to go through examination.
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He said that the auditing drive will not be confined to individual
cases involving fake mortgage loans but aims to give a
comprehensive inspection on the full process of credit extending by
banks.
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"Specific proposals will be made on the basis of the inspection
results to help banks tighten their management of housing loans,"
Fan said.
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A total of 373.09 billion yuan (about US$45.21 billion)has been
extended by Chinese commercial banks as of March to real estate
development and individual consumption, up 8.5 percent from the
beginning of 2005, Friday's China Securities Daily reported.
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Among all industries, non-performing bank loans in the real estate
sector are the fourth largest, said the newspaper.
(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2005)
