Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) expects a 12-13 percent growth in lending in 2009, said Jiang Jianqing, chairman of the country's largest commercial lender.

Lending by ICBC rose 14.2 percent year-on-year in 2008 to a record high of 530 billion yuan.

Speaking on the sidelines of the annual sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC), Jiang said that he expected demand for new loans will accelerate in the second half of 2009 when the effects of the government's economic stimulus begin to be felt.

Jiang said that new loans in February amounted to 100 billion yuan (US$14.62 billion), compared to 117.1 billion yuan in January.

(China Daily March 5, 2009)