BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Banks in east China's Shandong Province have provided special financial support for enterprises, helping them resume production amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19).
Shandong Zhoucun Rural Commercial Bank launched a special loan program for manufacturers of medical protective materials. Under this program, loans can be granted within 24 hours to meet the companies' capital needs.
Some banks in Shandong ensured loans for businesses by following up their needs. Dawn Group, a supplier of mask melt-blown non-woven materials, received more than 1,000 tonnes of orders in three days. To ensure enough capital for timely product delivery, the company filed an application for loan to the bank. The local sub-branch of the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) issued a total of 129 million yuan of loan to Dawn Group.
So far, the branch has issued more than 500 million yuan of anti-epidemic loans to businesses, according to an official with the Shandong branch of ABC.
Jinan Branch of the People's Bank of China put forward specific measures requiring financial institutions in the province to develop special financial service programs, increase credit lines, and open green loan approval channels so as to meet the financing demands of epidemic prevention and control, manufacturing and procurement of pharmaceutical products, construction of public health infrastructure and related R&D.
In response, many banks launched green loan schemes to enterprises, taking only hours from loan approval to issuance. On January 29, Hengfeng Bank issued a 10-million-yuan emergency loan to a medical and health product producer in Rizhao, Shandong Province, timely bailing it out of financial difficulty.
Shandong's financial regulatory authorities made it clear that financial institutions should not randomly withdraw, suspend or defer loans granted to enterprises that face repayment pressure due to the decrease in cash flow as a result of production resumption delay, especially those in sectors such as wholesale and retail, hotel and catering, logistics and transportation, culture and tourism.
(Edited by Su Dan, Bao Nuomin and Wang Muhan with Xinhua Silk Road, baonuomin@xinhua.org)
A single purchase
