China to step up financial services for new agricultural businesses

BEIJING -- Chinese financial and agricultural authorities have demanded efforts to improve financial services for new types of agricultural business entities amid the country's push for rural vitalization and agricultural and rural modernization.

The rural inclusive financial reform experiments will be expanded, while pilot zones for financial service supporting rural vitalization will be built, according to a document jointly released by the People's Bank of China, the central bank and five other government departments.

New types of rural business entities such as family farms and farmers' cooperatives have gradually become a vital force in ensuring farmers' income growth, the supply of agricultural products and the transformation and upgrading of the agricultural sector, it said.

The document has specified requirements on strengthening information sharing, promoting the development of credit loans, the innovation of exclusive financial products and services and expanding and diversifying financial channels, as well as improving agricultural insurance service, among others.

Financial services for new types of rural businesses will be taken into account in assessing the financial institutions' service performance on rural vitalization, according to the document.

The PBOC said it will next work closely with relevant departments, local governments and the financial system to promote industrial integration in rural areas and improve the quality, efficiency and competitiveness of the agricultural sector.