Chinese airline companies are encouraged to use long and medium-term foreign currency loans granted by domestic commercial banks when they buy aircraft from overseas manufacturers, said an official attending a recent seminar in this east China commercial center.

Loans extended by overseas financial institutions used to be the primary source of financing for Chinese airlines' plane purchases, said Zhang Guobao, vice minister in charge of the State Development Planning Commission (SDPC), during a two-day seminar on the financing for aircraft procurement.

"China has posted sustained growth in foreign currency deposits and reserves in recent years," said Zhang. "However, the country needs a number of aircraft each year to meet the demand of its growing civil aviation industry."

The purchase of aircraft with spot exchange loans will address the immediate needs of the civil aviation industry and will help boost the country's macro-economic growth, he said.

The China Construction Bank has tailored new service packages and streamlined procedures to finance domestic airliners, said a source from CCB at the seminar.

Attending the seminar are over 100 delegates from SDPC, State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Ministry of Finance, State Administration of Taxation, Civil Aviation Administration of China, 13 domestic airliners and a number of commercial banks.

(People's Daily 11/12/2001)