Credit quota for State lenders hiked

The government has given State-owned banks additional credit quotas for deployment to the nonfinancial sector by the end of this month, pumping more money to ease the funding crunch due to the relatively tight monetary environment, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

A manager with a leading State-owned bank who declined to be named said his bank has been given an additional quota and the funds are expected to be issued by the end of June, in order to support the nonfinancial sector.

The quota is not part of the originally sanctioned full-year lending quota, he said, adding that the overall credit environment had remained tight in the past few months as the government has stepped up its deleveraging efforts.