The China Development Bank (CDB), one of China's three policy banks, will grant loans of 15 billion yuan (US$1.9 billion) in the next five years to the country's less developed western areas.

 

The loans will go to state and provincial-level economic and technological development zones for building infrastructure and major research projects, under an agreement between the CDB and the Ministry of Commerce.

 

Ma Xiuhong, Vice Minister of Commerce, said the loans would also accelerate industrial advancement as capital and industries moved westwards from coastal developed areas.

 

The Ministry of Commerce and the CDB signed an agreement in September 2006 on financial support to less developed areas in central China.

 

Statistics show huge economic gaps between China's eastern and western regions. In 2005, the western provinces registered a per capita GDP of 8,822 yuan (US$1,103), while eastern areas were 2.5 times higher, with 22,076 yuan (US$2,760).

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2007)