Beijing plans to increase loan support for sectors such as integrated circuits, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence, while also increasing the growth rate and proportion of green loans, according to recent guidelines issued by the city.

The guidelines for promoting new quality productive forces include over 20 measures across five major aspects. Specifically, the city will allocate at least 60 billion yuan (US$8.43 billion) annually for relending and rediscounting to support scientific and technological innovation.

In addition, Beijing will develop specialized scientific and technological loan products and encourage insurance companies to introduce insurance offerings tailored to strategic industries.

By 2026, the city's efforts will focus on expanding loan coverage for scientific and technological companies, enhancing financial service capacity, improving the quality and efficiency of capital market services, and upgrading financial infrastructure.

The guidelines for green finance and low-carbon development outline 20 major tasks in five aspects. Beijing will encourage financial institutions to adopt carbon accounting, enhance environmental information disclosure, and foster specialized green financial institutions.

To stimulate green finance markets and products, the city plans to increase participation in the green finance sector, boost the issuance of carbon-neutral bonds, sustainability-linked bonds, and transition bonds, enhance services for green, low-carbon companies seeking to go public, and develop green insurance to support carbon market growth.

Recent data from a municipal press conference by the local branch of China's central bank and foreign exchange authority shows that, in the first three quarters, the total loan volume of financial institutions in Beijing continued to rise. By the end of September, the balance of various RMB loans grew by 5.4% year on year, with an average monthly growth rate of 10.2% during this period.

Financing costs for the real economy in Beijing have also declined. In September, the weighted average interest rate for corporate loans dropped to 2.87%, marking a record low.