URUMQI, December 17 (Xinhua)-- Five new branches of China Development Bank (CDB) will be officially established in west and central China in response to the central government's recent strategy to spur the economic development of the vast area.

Approved by the People's Bank of China, the central bank, CDB will set up its branches in Urumqi, Hohhot, Lanzhou, Taiyuan and Kunming, five capital cities of Xinjiang Uygur and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regions and Gansu, Shanxi and Yunnan Provinces by the end of this year. By that time, the number of CDB branches in the region will increase to 19, according to Chen Jianying, who is in charge of the preparatory work of Urumqi branch.

CDB is a policy lending bank established in 1994 by the Chinese government to strengthen infrastructure construction and set up mechanisms for investment risk control. With 50 billion yuan (about six billion US dollars) of equity capital, the bank mainly provides medium and long-term fixed asset loans.

CDB has provided some 380 billion yuan (about 43 billion US dollars), 70 percent of its total loans, to the west and central China regions.

The west and central China region covers some 87 percent of China's territory and accounts for about 58 percent of its total population. It has abundant natural resources and biological species, and also plays a important role in economic exchanges with countries that border China. (Xinhua)