Briefly

Agricultural Bank ups aid for manufacturing

Agricultural Bank of China, one of the country's largest commercial lenders, has scaled up support for the manufacturing sector. As at the end of March, the bank's outstanding loans to the manufacturing sector exceeded 2.69 trillion yuan ($388.42 billion), according to the bank. Newly added loans to the manufacturing sector stood at over 390 billion yuan at the end of the first quarter, data from the lender showed. As of the end of March, loans issued to emerging industries of strategic importance increased more than 430 billion yuan. Meanwhile, outstanding loans to specialized and innovative firms topped 200 billion yuan for the first time.

Railway investment up 6.3% in Jan-April

Fixed-asset investment in China's railways went up 6.3 percent year-on-year to 167.4 billion yuan ($24.2 billion) in the first four months of the year, data from China State Railway Group Co Ltd showed. This helped push forward the construction of a modern railway infrastructure system at an accelerated pace. The company said it has mainly focused on railway-related items in the country's 102 major projects introduced for the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period. In particular, track laying for the railway line between Tianjin and Beijing Daxing International Airport has been completed, the company said.

Xinhua - China Daily