China to well handle bad loans: finance minister

Minister of Finance Lou Jiwei gives a press conference at the press center of the two sessions, March 7, 2016, Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said Monday the market mechanism and government support might help China well handle mildly rising bad loans of banks.

Lou said his concerns about the rising non-performing loans were not because of the ministry's major shareholder status in the banks, but the banks' importance to the financial system and national economy.

Most of China's big banks are publicly traded and the Finance Ministry's standing is not different from other investors in terms of shareholder status, Lou said at a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress.

China may roll out policies towards the banks against the backdrop of a "big picture," in the process of deleveraging and slashing overcapacity and overstock, Lou said.