Commercial banks in China have continued to issue special bonds to raise funds for lending to small businesses since the start of 2021.
18 commercial banks in China issued 112.31 billion yuan (approx. USD$17.21 billion) in bonds during the period from the start of 2021 to 7 March, according to figures from financial data provider Wind.
During this period special bonds issued by banks raised approximately 52 billion yuan in funds to drive lending to micro-and-small enterprises, accounting for nearly half the total.
Wind data further indicates that in 2020 40 Chinese banks made a total of 51 special bond issues to drive lending to micro-and-small enterprises, raising approximately 373.28 billion yuan.
Dong Ximiao (董希淼), chief researcher with China Merchants Finance, said to Securities Daily that for the past several years China’s annual government work report had called for banks to increase their lending to micro-and-small enterprises, with regulators supporting the expansion of low-cost funding channels for lenders in order to abet these efforts.
