Central Bank Pledges Support for State Industry Reform 　　The People's Bank of China will expand the supply of currency and loans to support the reform of state-owned enterprises, which are in urgent need of a modern management system, the bank's president Dai Xianglong said recently. 　　The central bank will also buy bonds held by commercial banks so as to enlarge the circulation of currency, he said. 　　Meanwhile, the central bank will also increase loans to commercial banks, particularly those medium and small-sized financial institutions, to promote the development of small businesses and private economy. 　　The central bank will speed up the pace of reform of commercial banks and lend greater support to the newly-established four asset management companies, which specialize in managing bad debts of state-owned commercial banks, he said. 　　Dai said that the central bank will also improve means of settlement to ensure the speedy flow of corporate funds. Meanwhile, the bank will hasten a review of trust and investment companies and regroup them more quickly. 　　The official said that the central bank will support state- owned enterprises' direct effort in raising funds so as to lower their debt ratio against their assets. 　　He said that the bank is drafting regulations to allow securities companies to raise funds from commercial banks through mortgaging with their shares, and to issue short-term loans to raise funds. (Xinhua) Economicnews 1999-10-27 Page2 Full Story in Chinese