Two state policy banks received more than $60 billion from China’s central bank, Caixin magazine reported on Monday.
China Development Bank was recapitalized with $32 billion and the Export-Import Bank of China with $30 billion by the People’s Bank of China using the nation’s foreign-exchange reserves, according to unnamed sources, according to the report by the magazine which was picked up by Bloomberg. The moves are expected to help the government’s development plans overseas.
By swapping loans for equity in the two government-owned policy lenders, the People’s Bank of China will be the China Development Bank’s second-largest shareholder and the biggest shareholder of Export-Import Bank of China, according to the magazine, according to sources.
In a note on the move, Wang Tao, chief China economist at UBS Group AG in Hong Kong said, this move to boost the policy banks’ lending will have a “more stimulative punch” than the one percentage point cut to banks’ required reserve ratios enacted on Sunday.