CDB Agrees Loan to HainanThe China Development Bank (CDB), China's biggest policy bank, recently signed a provisional agreement to lend the provincial government of Hainan 6.34 billion yuan (US$763.8 million).The fund, which will help improve the local economy, is expected to support 16 structural and agricultural projects on the southern island province, officials said at the signing ceremony on Wednesday in Haikou, capital of Hainan. The package will finance a forestry project to plant 233,300 hectares of fast growing trees in the province. The project acquired 1.1 billion yuan (US$132.5 million) in loans from CDB. The forest will be a major provider of raw materials for a local joint venture paper factory that boasts an annual production capacity of 600,000 tons, local officials said. Analysts said that the completion of the project will greatly relieve the pulp shortage on the domestic market, which has so far been fed by huge imports from abroad. Bank sources said that in the past six years, the outstanding loan by CDB to Hainan Province has reached 3 billion yuan (US$361 million). CDB Governor Chen Yuan said the bank will continue to lend to the area and will try to improve its overall financial services so as to help develop the region in the next few years. |
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