In recent years, China Development Bank ("CDB") has been focusing on the fields of student loan, drinking water safety and reemployment, and providing development-oriented financial services by centering on national strategies and people's-livelihood-related problems facing local government as well as urban and rural residents, which forcefully push forward harmonious development of Inner Mongolia's economy.

As a frontier area populated by ethnic minorities, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is expansive in coverage but laggard in social and economic development. In particular, financial input in fields related to people's livelihood has long been small and many historical debts have not yet been paid off.

Guo Mingshe, president of CDB Inner Mongolia Branch said that in recent years his branch had started with the most direct and realistic problems most cared about by the governments and residents in various locations in Inner Mongolia and defined thorny problems related to people's livelihood as priorities in financial service, provided loans in succession for a batch of projects involving national student loan, safety of human and livestock drinking water, microcredit to laid-off and unemployed persons, construction of houses for low-income families, poverty-relieving development of pig husbandry, reconstruction of villages in cities, which were well received by local governments and people.

According to statistics, CDB Inner Mongolia Branch had provided a total of 37 types of loans amounting to RMB 2.465 billion for fields related to people's livelihood in Inner Mongolia by the end of October, 2007, among which RMB 1.5 billion new loans were granted in the first 10 months this year. It can be seen that credit support is increasingly strengthened.

Take as an example student loans for colleges and universities, in which some financial institutions lack credit enthusiasm. CDB Inner Mongolia Branch has currently expanded the number of colleges and universities in Inner Mongolia it supports from 17 to 35 and the coverage rate been increased from 40% in the initial stage to the present 100%. The accumulated RMB 43.0688 million student loans have so far been granted to 9,457 poor students studying in colleges and universities belonging to Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Human and livestock drinking water safety project of Chifeng city is a pilot project Inner Mongolia determined for ensuring drinking water safety, which encountered serious fund shortage after its launch. With cooperation of relevant authorities in Inner Mongolia, CDB Inner Mongolia Branch promised in 2007 to provide RMB 34 million loans for the project and has so far granted RMB 24.5 million loans to solve the drinking water problem harassing 310 thousand people and 760 thousand livestock in the project-targeted area. In addition, the drinking water safety project for 6 cities including Ulanchap and Erdos will also have their credit review completed in the near future. (Reporter Ren Huibin Reports)