A senior Chinese banking official has said there remains huge
potential for banks to finance rural development, as
agricultural-related loans amounted to less than one-fifth of all
lending by 2005.
China Banking Regulatory Commission Vice Chairman Tang
Shuangning told a financial reform forum in Beijing recently that
the development of urban and rural financial markets is
lopsided.
China is launching an aggressive move to narrow the urban-rural
gap that has emerged since the reform and opening-up drive began in
1979. As stocks, bonds and other markets are still nascent, banks
offer more than 90 percent of the funds that enterprises need.
Outstanding agricultural loans came to 4 trillion yuan at the
end of last year, with their growth rate falling 12 percent behind
the average loan increase over the past five years.
Tang said China's more than 30,000 rural credit cooperatives and
other cooperative financial institutions, which represent half of
the loans for the countryside, are plagued by poor assets quality,
heavy financial burdens and frequent irregularities.
Agricultural Bank of China and Agricultural Development Bank of
China are also major rural loans providers.
(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2006)