A report by an unidentified overseas accounting firm which said that the bad loans of China's commercial banks had reached US$900 billion has been condemned by the People's Bank of China Thursday. 

A Bank official said that the company had for a long time been engaged in accounting and auditing business in China. The so called research report had largely distorted the facts relating to the capital quality of Chinese banks and drawn ridiculous conclusions, he said.

China's national economy has maintained stable and rapid development which was creating a healthy environment for the financial sector, added the official.

He said the Chinese government has adopted measures to prevent monetary risks including reforming financial mechanisms, strengthening supervision, introducing more open policies and establishing a modern enterprise system. By these means China's financial industry had made remarkable progress in risk management and the banks' capital quality had been improved.

According to the official, by the end of March this year, the bad loan figure of China's commercial banks has been coming down. The total volume of bad loans was 1312.47 billion yuan (US$164 billion), down 13.76 billion yuan compared with the beginning of this year. The rate of bad loans was 8 percent which is down 0.6 percent compared with the beginning of this year.

(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2006)