Banks required to offer extra funds

The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, yesterday said it would guide policy banks to make an additional 100 billion yuan (US$14.7 billion) of loans by the end of this year.

The money would be for the construction of key projects and the purchase of agricultural products, the central bank said, without elaborating. It also encouraged commercial banks to provide supporting loans for projects covered by the central government's investment of 100 billion yuan before the year-end.