By Tu Lei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-10-19 16:02

The Import-Export Bank of China (Exim Bank) will not be turned into a purely commercial institution, said Chinese policy lender's Chairman Li Ruogu Thursday, according to today's Xinhua.

Li said on the sidelines of the 17th Communist Party Congress in Beijing that the bank's main business will be on economic cooperation projects, excluding domestic railway, highway and real estate projects.

The bank will provide loans on favorable terms to increase imports and so help reduce trade surplus, said Li, adding the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission are drawing up a list of eligible imports, which will include high-technology goods.

He said the government, with the central bank taking the lead, was still debating when and how to inject capital into the bank. However, he said the bank has no plan to sell stakes to foreign strategic investors in the "mid- and short-term, or the coming five years."

Exim Bank, one of the country's three policy banks, has lent about US$20 billion to importers in the last two years, and it will pay more attention to export business of small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as to agricultural products.

The bank's non-performing loan ratio is around 2.5 percent, said Li, adding that its outstanding loans are expected to grow about 30 percent this year.