The CSRC held the first regular banking news conference today in Beijing, where the CDB was invited to talk about its efforts to support growth stabilization in H1 2015. In the face of a severe and complicated economic environment and the uphill task of economic growth stabilization, the CDB issued new loans in RMB and foreign currencies totaling RMB 1.3trn in H1 and made well-targeted and sustainable efforts, focusing on national strategic priorities, leveraging on the advantages of development finance, while maintaining the NPL ratio below 1% for 41 consecutive quarters. The bank has played an active role in boosting investment and stabilizing economic growth.
Revolving around key sectors and major development strategies, e.g. shantytown transformation, railway, water conservation, new urbanization, poverty alleviation and development and "One Belt and One Road", the CDB proactively optimized resource allocation and stepped up supports for relevant investment and financing projects. Shantytown transformation: in H1 2015, the CDB granted a total of RMB 419.8bn worth of loans (more than that issued in full-year 2014) for shantytown transformation projects, accounting for 39% of the total RMB loans issued in H1. The focus was placed on increasing credit support in favor of shantytown projects in areas affected by coal mining subsidence in Central, Western and Northeastern China, state-owned mines, forests and reclaimed lands, resource-exhausted cities and areas with a high concentration of tier-3 enterprises, with 65% of the loans granted for central and western and northeastern regions. In particular, loans of RMB 15bn were pledged for shantytown transformation in the "four coal cities" in Heilongjiang Province (i.e. Jixi, Hegang, Shuangyashan and Qitaihe), of which the first loan has already been paid.
Railway construction: The CDB has maintained an annual loan issuance of over RMB 100bn for four consecutive years since 2011. In 2015, it plans to continue to issue RMB 100bn loans to support railway construction, of which RMB 67.8bn has been granted in H1, up RMB 5.5bn yoy. The CDB continued to cooperate with China Railway Corporation in projects relating to the "13th Five-Year" Plan, bond underwriting, capital settlement and the "going abroad" strategy of railway enterprises, providing a full suite of financial services to support railway construction across China.
Water conservation: The CDB stepped up collaboration with the Ministry of Water Resources and provided major water resource projects (e.g. key water sources) with differential policy supports. Thus far, the CDB has completed loan commitment reviews for 19 of the 172 major national water conservation projects and loan payment of RMB 94.4bn. As of the end of June 2015, outstanding water conservation related loans issued by the CDB totaled RMB 352.5bn; an aggregate of RMB 579.4bn worth of loans had been granted, accounting for nearly 50% of total financing for water resource projects in China, covering all the 31 Chinese provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), thereby making the CDB a leading force for water construction financing in the country.
New urbanization: The CDB granted a total of RMB 729.0bn worth of loans in support of urbanization projects in H1, accounting for 68% of the total RMB loan issuance during the period. As of the end of June, outstanding CDB urbanization loans totaled RMB 5.13trn, accounting for 75% of the bank's total outstanding RMB loans. The bank has always remained a central player in providing financial support for urbanization in China.
In addition, as the leading banking service provider for China's outbound investment and financing cooperation projects, the CDB consistently stepped up relevant efforts in supporting the "One Belt and One Road" strategy. As of the end of 2014, the combined value of contracts signed between the CDB and countries along the routes of the "One Belt and One Road" exceeded RMB 137.2bn; the number of financing projects supported by the CDB in the aforementioned countries exceeded 400, covering energy, mining, transportation infrastructure, industry parks, equipment manufacturing and agriculture, where the outstanding loans accounted for nearly 1/3 or the bank's total international business volume.
The CDB has also committed itself to promoting Inclusive Finance, and has made continued efforts in terms of modern agriculture, microbusinesses, student loans and disaster relief to improve people's livelihood. In an effort to push forward "high-precision" poverty alleviation, the bank gathered various social forces to develop supporting systems for high-precision poverty alleviation focusing on 14 contiguous destitute areas as the main battlefields through bank-government cooperation, forward-looking planning, institution-building and model innovation. Top priorities of supports for poverty-stricken areas include infrastructure construction, education development, local specialty industries and poverty alleviation for farmers. As of the end of June 2015, outstanding poverty loans issued by the CDB totaled RMB 758.6bn, accounting for approximately ? of the national total, covering 712 state-level poverty-stricken counties and contiguous destitute counties.
According to a CDB official, the bank will continue to dedicate itself to serving the state's development strategies, and adhere to the market-oriented operating approach so as to fulfill its role in the development of key sectors and weak links and during critical transitional phases, thereby making even greater contributions to building China into a well-off society.
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