China's Central Bank to Boost Money Supply, Total Social Financing This Year

China's central bank said Monday that it would boost the growth of money supply and total social financing by significantly more than a year earlier to help struggling businesses.

The People's Bank of China, mapping out its work for the reminder of the year, said in a statement that it would promote a substantial increase of medium to long-term loans to the country's small businesses and manufacturers, which have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

China will actively and steadily push forward yuan internationalization and capital account convertibility, the central bank said. It again vowed to open up the financial sector at a steady pace.

Preventing financial risk is one of the "three tough battles" proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2018, and this year is supposed to be the last year to resolve all major financial risks, the PBOC said. The central bank said it would normalize the prevention of financial risk and close off loopholes in the following years.

The central bank said it will steadily push ahead with the research and development of digital currency in the second half of the year and speed up improvements to the regulatory framework of fintech.

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