国内英语新闻:China's banking regulator urges reasonable lending to support real economy

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) announced Monday that it will guide the nation's banks to a scientific pace of lending this year as it stressed bank loans should better serve the real economy.

The CBRC said in a statement on its website that it will also expand and improve financial services in the country's rural areas and encourage banks to support borrowing activities from small-sized companies.

The CBRC said it will carry out more studies in stepping up support for the country's affordable housing program, which aims to build 10 million affordable housing units for low and middle income residents this year.

The commission also said it will continue to implement the differentiated home loan policy adopted last year, under which bank loans for third home purchases are suspended and down payments for all first-time home buyers are at least 30 percent of the purchase price, while second home buyers will have to pay an even higher amount of down payments, at 50 percent.

Further, the CBRC said it would tighten controls over lending to local government's financing vehicles in order to ward off risks.

Government data showed new yuan-denominated lending in China reached 7.95 trillion yuan (about 1.2 trillion U.S. Dollars) last year, overshooting the government's full-year target of 7.5 trillion yuan.