(01 February 2013 – China) China Development Bank (CDB) has pledged to fund more urbanisation-related projects; it is already China’s largest infrastructure project lender.The bank said it would allocate over 50 percent of its new renminbi loans to the new urbanisation projects and will also expand its support to social livelihood projects with overseas mergers and acquisitions.
In 2012, CDB’s loans to government-supported housing projects amounted to US$18.7 billion (A$17.9 billion), accounting for around 60 percent of all Chinese banks’ loans.
It increased lending to urbanization-related projects last year in response to Beijing’s efforts to boost economic growth, loans to these projects totalled US$52 billion for the year.
Included in this total, however, was funding for coal-oil transport, water conservation, agriculture, forestry, telecommunications and public infrastructure.
CDB also lent US$64.8 billion to firms in midwest and western China where public transit and infrastructure are underdeveloped.
Its loans to other sectors such as strategic technology, culture, environment and energy-saving amounted to US$40 billion last year.
The bank is China’s biggest bond issuer after the Ministry of Finance, and is also the biggest issuer in the offshore yuan-denominated bond market after the Chinese government.