From the People’s Daily (link)
A senior Chinese banking official has said there remains huge potential for banks to finance rural development, as agricultural-related loans amounted to less than one-fifth of all lending by 2005.
China Banking Regulatory Commission Vice Chairman Tang Shuangning told a financial reform forum in Beijing recently that the development of urban and rural financial markets is lopsided.
China is launching an aggressive move to narrow the urban-rural gap that has emerged since the reform and opening-up drive began in 1979. As stocks, bonds and other markets are still nascent, banks offer more than 90 percent of the funds that enterprises need.
