China Agricultural Bank pledges more loans to private businesses in 2019

BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Agricultural Bank of China, one of the "Big Four" banks in the country, will issue 132 billion yuan (19.6 billion U.S. dollars) of loans to private businesses in 2019, bank officials said Friday.

The bank's outstanding loans to private businesses stood at 1.67 trillion yuan as of the end of 2018, accounting for 25.6 percent of the total, Wang Wei, vice president of the bank, said at a press conference on its performance in 2018.

In 2019, the bank plans to issue loans to another 14,500 private businesses, Wang said.

The bank has drawn 22 new measures to increase loans to private businesses while curbing risks, he added.

Amid the pressure of economic slowdown, the Chinese government has vowed to extend greater support to the private sector, which contributes 60 percent of the country's GDP and 80 percent of urban jobs.