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SAFE to use banks for overseas loan projects

By Qiang Xiaoji (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-05-17 11:47
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The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) plans to entrust commercial banks with policy-related and government-involved overseas investment projects like "loans-for-oil", seeking a new way of extending policy-related foreign exchange loans, the Century Weekly reported Monday.

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This act could help SAFE to reduce the pressure of managing huge foreign exchange reserves and disperse foreign currency assets, while also enabling SAFE to transform from the traditional foreign exchange regulator to a foreign exchange loans provider, the report said.

The state council asked SAFE to explore new ways of extending policy loans in the oil project signed between China and Russia at the end of last year, which has triggered this attempt.

China Development Bank became the first bank to sign an agreement with SAFE, to carry out the foreign exchange loans business in several overseas investment projects, according to the report.