Chinese lenders are urged to beef up credit support for farmers hit by the May 12 earthquake to rebuild their homes, according to a joint statement by the People's Bank of China, the central bank, and the China Banking Regulatory Commission on Friday.

The central bank reiterated the floor for mortgage interest rates would remain at 60 percent of its benchmark rate to facilitate loans to rural residents left homeless by the 8.0 magnitude earthquake centered in the southwestern Sichuan Province.

A wide range of issues, including a debtor's income history, revenue expectancy and family workforce, should be taken into account when financial institutions set up loan quotas and expiration periods, according to the statement.

Lenders are encouraged to broaden the channels for loan repayment to lessen pressure on debtors. In the meantime, they were urged to remain alert against bad loans.

The devastating Sichuan quake left more than 80,000 dead and millions homeless. Direct losses exceeded 845.1 billion yuan (124 billion U.S. dollars). The unprecedented housing reconstruction was confounded as most victims were cash-strapped rural residents.

Commercial lenders were told earlier to cut mortgage down payments for home buyers in quake regions to 10 percent, lower than the 20 percent standard elsewhere around the country.

(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2008)