Guideline issued to help south Xinjiang

Intended to boost lending to less-developed area

China's central bank, together with the country's banking, securities and insurance authorities, released on Thursday a guideline to give more financial support to the less-developed southern part of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in a bid to boost development and ensure stability.

The regulators will adopt favorable monetary policies, such as a differentiated reserve requirement ratio, to encourage financial institutions to increase credit supply to the area, especially for farmers and small firms, according to a statement posted on the website of the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank.

The central bank encourages commercial banks to set up branches in southern Xinjiang, where financial services are inadequate.

Establishment of private banks is also supported, according to the statement.

The statement also noted that innovation in cross-border yuan services should be facilitated, which could benefit the area's cross-border trading, experts said, as southern Xinjiang borders countries like Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan.

"The central bank statement has sent out a clear signal that the government is firmly supporting the development of southern Xinjiang," Huang Pingchao, a director at Xinjiang government's department of commerce, told the Global Times on Thursday via phone.

The less-developed southern part of Xinjiang needs huge investment and the supporting policies will further boost investors' confidence, Huang said.

He also revealed that the Xinjiang government is planning to set up a bank dedicated to the development of southern Xinjiang.

Northwest China's Xinjiang is one of the country's less-developed regions, and the southern part of Xinjiang lags behind the northern part.

Turgunjan Tursun, a research fellow at the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, noted that the current supporting polices for Xinjiang are more targeted as the less-developed southern Xinjiang needs more aid. "But continuous efforts should be made to ensure the implementation of these policies," he said.

Small firms in southern Xinjiang, which mainly focus on handicrafts and farm produce processing, are the main job providers, according to Tursun.

"Economic development and employment are the key factors for maintaining social stability," he noted.

The statement said that the regulators would strengthen efforts to crack down on terrorism-related money laundering.

The statement said that financial support will be offered to major infrastructure projects in south Xinjiang.