China’s financial institutions should provide strong support to the country’s beleaguered real estate sector and not “blindly withdraw” financing for projects facing difficulties, according to a senior Chinese financial regulatory official.

His strongly worded comments follow the Chinese central bank’s grootste verlaging van de verplichte kasreserves voor banken sinds 2021. Beijing heeft onlangs ook vrijgegeven een nieuw beleidsmandaat aimed at easing the cash crunch for Chinese developers, which have struggled under the crackdown on the sector’s bloated debt.

“The financial industry has an unshirkable responsibility and must provide strong support,” said Xiao Yuanqi, deputy director of China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration, at Een persconferentie volgens een vertaling van CNBC donderdag in Peking.

“We all know the real estate industry chain is long and involves a wide range of areas. It has an important impact on the national economy and is closely related to people’s lives,” he added.

De vastgoedproblemen in China zijn nauw verweven met de financiën van de lokale overheid, aangezien deze voor een aanzienlijk deel van de inkomsten doorgaans afhankelijk waren van de verkoop van grond aan ontwikkelaars.

De vastgoedmarkt zakte in nadat Peking hardhandig optreden tegen de grote afhankelijkheid van ontwikkelaars van schulden voor de groei in 2020, wat woog op de consumentengroei en de bredere groei in de op één na grootste economie ter wereld.

“For projects that are in difficulty but whose funds can be balanced, we should not blindly withdraw loans, suppress loans, or cut off loans,” Xiao said. “We should provide greater support through extending existing loans, adjusting repayment arrangements, and adding new loans.”

Toch waarschuwde Xiao dat de laatste versoepeling van de financieringsrichtlijnen, die alleen geldig is tot het einde van het jaar, doelgericht is.

“China’s state banks will issue operating property loans to real estate companies on the basis of controllable risks and commercial sustainability,” Xiao said.

“Eligible property developers may then use these loans to repay existing loans of real estate companies and open market bonds they have issued,” he said.

China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development held a meeting Friday morning that emphasized again that local regions could adapt the newly release property policy guidelines as needed, volgens officiële rapporten.

Hoewel niet nieuw, is de bijeenkomst een van de vele deze week – wijzend op officiële inspanningen om de implementatie van recente beleidsaankondigingen te bespoedigen.

Beijing’s stimulus announcement on Wednesday also marked a rare decision to release news at a persbriefing, suggesting the Chinese government is signaling its intent at a time when the country’s stock markets are teetering on the edge of capitulation.

Such policy moves are typically only published online and disseminated via state media. But the People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng announced the forthcoming reserve ratio requirement cut and real estate policy in person.

Last week, Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced the country’s annual GDP growth figure in zijn toespraak op het World Economic Forum in Davos — a day before China’s National Bureau of Statistics was scheduled to release the country’s official GDP print and other data.

— CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this story.