http://www.bjreview.com MARCH 12, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 33
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erations of the economy and minimizing the
outbreak’s impact,” PBC Deputy Governor
Fan Yifei said at a press conference on
February 15.
The central bank is disbursing the
300-billion-yuan fund through nine major
national banks like BoComm, and some local
corporate banks in 10 key provinces and mu-
nicipalities. These banks will use the money
to give loans to companies on a list drafted
by the central and local governments.
The list should be strictly followed so
that low-cost funding can be delivered pre-
cisely to companies that supply goods and
services to contain the novel coronavirus, Liu
Guoqiang, another Deputy Governor of the
PBC, said.
Expanded package
While the first tranche of funds is yet to be
exhausted, new measures are on the way
to further assist companies during their re-
sumption of production.
On February 26, the PBC announced it
would add a 500-billion-yuan ($71.25 billion)
relending and rediscounting quota for banks.
It also cut the interest rate for relending des-
ignated for agricultural entities and SMEs by
0.25 percentage point, down to 2.5 percent.
“The move is conducive to increas-
ing low-cost capital resource for small and
medium-sized banks and will improve their
lending capacities. This will give full play to
the structural monetary policy tools,” Wen
Bin, chief researcher with China Minsheng
Bank, told China News Service.
Regional banks that issue new loans to
small and micro companies at a relatively
lower interest rate, which is no more than
the loan prime rate plus 50 basis points by
the end of June, can apply for getting an
equivalent amount of relending funds, ac-
cording to the PBC.
The destinations of the additional funds
will be more diversified compared to the
300-billion-yuan tranche. They will focus on
supporting agricultural, foreign trade and
service industries, such as tourism, catering
and transportation, helping the companies
pay their debts, speed up capital turnover
and increase investment.
In addition, SMEs and self-employed en-
trepreneurs that have encountered liquidity
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can extend their principal repayment to June
30 without being penalized. This will ease
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should be supporting SMEs and lowering
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According to data from the China
Banking Association, as of February 28, the
credit support for financial institutions had
surpassed 1,033.9 billion yuan ($148.5 bil-lion), contributing to epidemic prevention
and control, and promoting the real econo-
my as well.
Gao Ruidong, chief macro analyst with
Guotai Junan Securities, an investment bank
and securities company, told Economic
Information Daily that the string of targeted
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and self-employed entrepreneurs.” These
are market-oriented and can fully mobilize
various market entities. Also, they will make
financial institutions more positive to loan
applications. As the costs of capital, labor,
electricity and other inputs are lowered and
taxes are reduced, SMEs can accelerate their
work resumption.New approaches
Apart from credit support, regulators also
unveiled several more measures recently to
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turnover problems during the resumption
of production amid the outbreak. They are
meant to innovate and improve the way of
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ket’s capacity to serve the real economy.
On February 7, the China Securities
Regulatory Commission’s Beijing bureau is-
sued a document promoting initial public
offerings (IPOs) by companies planning to
list. It also advanced the acceptance proce-
dure by the National Equities Exchange and
Quotations, the over-the-counter system for
trading the shares of a company that is not
listed on the Shanghai or Shenzhen stock ex-
changes. Besides, it committed to enhancing
online training for enterprises’ public listing.
Ren Zeping, chief economist with the
Evergrande Group, suggests making use of
the stock market’s financing functions to
bolster the real economy. Bond issuance,
mergers and acquisitions, and IPOs should
be ways to back the real economy, Ren said.
Financial enterprises such as futures
practitioners and brokers are also chipping in
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involved in the fight against the outbreak.
They are underwriting epidemic prevention
and control bonds and waiving trading fees.
According to the Securities Association
of China, by February 21, a total of 21 se-
curities companies had underwritten 18
epidemic prevention and control bonds,
which helped 17 issuers from 10 provinces
raise 16.84 billion yuan ($2.42 billion). QThe Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council holds a press conference in Beijing on February 14
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