ICBC recently successfully issued RMB2 billion of “rural revitalization bill” for a central culture & tourism enterprise in the inter-bank bond market, the first rural revitalization bill issued by an SOE to support the development of cultural and tourism industries in rural areas, thus opening up a new development space for financial institutions to serve rural revitalization.

The fore-mentioned rural revitalization bills underwritten by ICBC include 3-year and 5-year bills. Some proceeds will be invested in rural revitalization related fields, to support protection of key projects concerning rural construction, such as traditional villages, traditional dwellings and historical and cultural villages and towns, thus promoting the development of cultural and tourism industries, and consequently other industries in rural areas. The rural revitalization bills, which have received active response from market investors, provides a new way for financial institutions to serve the development of tourism in rural areas and the building of beautiful countryside.

ICBC has increased funding support to agriculture, rural areas and farmers in recent years. As of the end of May, ICBC had underwritten and issued nearly RMB10 billion “rural revitalization bonds”, the proceeds of which were to be invested in a number of key fields, including industrial development in rural areas and construction of urban-rural integrated transportation. ICBC’s balance of loans to rural construction fields was nearly RMB1.5 trillion, and balance of loans relating to agricultural production reached nearly RMB900 billion. Those loans have supported the development of agriculture and the modernization of rural areas, boosting growth of production and farmers’ income.