Bank of China, the nation's third-largest, plans to advance 300 billion yuan (US$44 billion) of loans to fund the construction of railways, airports, roads and power stations in response to the government's economic stimulus plan.

BOC has offered 30 billion yuan of new corporate loans over the past month, taking the total amount of new lending to companies to 600 billion yuan so far this year, the Beijing-based lender said on its Website yesterday. It plans to extend 30 billion yuan more in new loans this month.

(Shanghai Daily December 11, 2008)