China’s industry ministry has joined hands with China Development Bank – Beijing’s financing arm that bankrolls state-backed projects – to pump hundreds of billions of yuan into designated manufacturing and technology projects as the government further directs resources into areas it deems critical to the nation’s economic well-being.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in a statement on Friday that it has targeted an initial batch of 105 projects across the country, with a combined planned investment of 710 billion yuan (US$103.8 billion). Of that, about 300 billion yuan will come from bank loans.
China Development Bank agreed to lend 125.2 billion yuan to the development of 24 projects. The bank said it had granted a credit line worth 250 billion yuan to those projects in late March, meaning it has already opened up the government lending tap to help finance important projects nationwide.
However, neither the ministry nor the bank provided a list of the favoured projects. The unusual direct cooperation between China’s industry ministry and the policy bank in financing key projects is in keeping with China’s new “dual circulation” strategy. Under that plan, the country is looking to rely more on itself to make technological breakthroughs and to cut its dependence on imported products amid a prolonged trade war with the United States.
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