China's policy bank lends 859b yuan for rural infrastructure in 2017

BEIJING -- The Agricultural Development Bank of China (ADBC), one of the country's three policy lenders, offered loans of over 859 billion yuan ($135 billion) last year for agricultural and rural infrastructure development, the bank said in a statement.

The loans covered major fields and weak links in rural infrastructure including shanty town transformation, water conservancy, as well as road and environmental protection projects.

Last year, the bank funded over 427.4 billion yuan for housing renovation in rural areas, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, loans offered by the bank for the building or reconstruction of rural roads reached 104.9 billion yuan.

The bank also lent over 78.8 billion yuan for water conservancy projects, with a focus on farming irrigation, securing drinking water and improving rural reservoirs.

To promote the integrated development of rural and urban areas, the ADBC provided loans of 160 billion yuan.

The bank also lent about 71.5 billion yuan to improve the rural environment.

The ADBC was established in 1994 by the central government to promote rural and agricultural development. It has 2,000 branches in 30 provincial-level areas.