In a bid to better position itself in the way of financing projects and corporate plans, including its maritime Silk Road initiative, China is to take more control over the country’s three major policy banks.
PTI previously reported that China Shipping Group and the Bank of China signed a strategic co-operation agreement in an effort to strengthen investment, cash management and loans to finance its Silk Road project.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, a government advisor is quoted as saying: “A big question for us is how we finance the ‘One Belt, One Road’ plan and make it work. And that’s where the policy banks come in.”
To read more on China's maritime Silk Road initiative, click here
China’s maritime Silk Road was designed to allow greater connectivity between ports around the Indian Ocean, Far East and Africa and to promote increased trade growth among these regions.
Thailand has recently proposed a US$20bn ‘Kra Canal’ in an effort to support the maritime Silk Road initiative and to provide shippers with an alternative to sailing through the heavily congested Malacca Strait.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a move to counter China’s plan after being alarmed by neighbouring countries’ openness to building this new Silk Road.
