Over 32,000 companies in Hubei access $3b of loans to kick-start work

More than 32,200 enterprises in Hubei province have obtained 20.6 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) of loans at rates of 4.52 percent to help them resume their business, Wang Yuling, head of Wuhan Branch of People's Bank of China, said on Saturday.

Twelve banks in the province have also issued 34 billion yuan special re-lending quota, which supported more than 800 key enterprises involved in the COVID-19 outbreak response, Wang said at a news conference.

For micro-, small- and medium-sized firms with temporary liquidity difficulty, 33 banks have provisionally deferred 687.1 billion yuan of loan principal repayments, with penalty interest payments exempted, she said.

On Jan 31, People's Bank of China has allocated a 300 billion yuan special re-lending quota for enterprises involved in the outbreak response.

On Feb 26, another 500 billion yuan of re-lending and re-discount quota has been allocated by the central bank to support an increasing number of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to get loans at rates below 4.55 percent for their business re-opening.

Guo Wei, head of the Hubei Branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, said the bank has issued loans of 4.78 billion yuan to 107 key enterprises in the province as of the end of March.

The interest rates of the new loans issued to enterprises as of March has been lowered by 63 basis points compared with same period last year, the interested rates for micro-, small- and medium-sized firms has been cut by 75 basis points year-on-year, he said.

Chen Jinyan, head of the Hubei Branch of Agricultural Bank of China, said the bank has issued loans of 6.6 billion yuan to 167 key enterprises in the province by April 15.

The bank has launched green channel for the financing demand of enterprises and they can get the loans without being rated by the bank and submit materials after obtaining the loans, he said.