In an interview with a British newspaper, Premier Wen Jiabao said that China will inject 200 billion yuan (US$30 billion) into the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), the Securities Daily reported Monday.

"The Agricultural Bank of China is the last among the five major state-owned banks to undertake a reform... We decided to inject US$30 billion into the bank during its financial restructuring," the Financial Times quoted Premier Wen as saying.

Last November, ABC received a capital injection of US$19 billion from the Central Huijin Investment Company, an investment arm of the Chinese government. On January 16 this year the bank officially became a shareholding company jointly owned by the Central Huijin Investment Company and the Ministry of Finance.

The other four major state-owned banks also received capital injections during their recapitalization. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China got US$15 billion, the China Construction Bank and the Bank of China each got US$22.5 billion, and the China Development Bank received a US$20-billion-injection.

For more details please read the complete Chinese news coverage at:

http://zqrb.ccstock.cc/html/2009-02/03/content_158151.htm

(China.org.cn by Yan Pei, January 3, 2009)