China policy bank to lend more for poverty relief

The Agricultural Development Bank of China (ADBC) will lend 3 trillion yuan (about 458 billion U.S. dollars) to support the country's poverty relief efforts from now to 2020.

By 2020, ADBC will strive to raise its balance of poverty relief loans by 2 trillion yuan, the bank's board chairman Xie Xuezhi said at a recent meeting.

The loans will be extended to various areas, including relocation of people in poverty, tourism, environment, education and agricultural infrastructure.

As a major policy bank in China to support agricultural and rural development, the ADBC has increased its credit support for poverty-stricken areas in recent years.

At the end of 2014, China had more than 70 million people in the countryside living below the nation's poverty line. China aims to eliminate poverty by 2020 when its 13th Five-Year Plan is completed.