Central bank adds 20 billion yuan in relending quota for agriculture

The People's Bank of China announced on the 27th that it will increase the relending quota for agriculture support by 20 billion yuan for some of its branches, guiding rural financial institutions to expand credit lending related to agriculture.

A relevant official of the central bank said the move is aimed at implementing the requirement put forward at the State Council executive meeting on July 23 to “step up relending and rediscounting for agriculture and small businesses,” and to improve the capacity of financial services to support “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” and other weak links in the national economy.

The central bank explicitly required that the relending for agriculture support be executed at a preferential interest rate, and that eligible rural financial institutions in poverty-stricken areas may have the relending rate for agriculture support lowered by a further 1 percentage point on top of the preferential rate; the interest rates on agriculture-related loans issued by rural financial institutions using borrowed relending for agriculture support should be lower than the weighted average interest rate of the institution's other agriculture-related loans of the same term and grade.