Agricultural Bank of China steps up support for manufacturing industries-Xinhua

BEIJING, June 4 (Xinhua) — The Agricultural Bank of China, one of the country’s largest commercial lenders, has scaled up support for the manufacturing sector. By the end of April, the bank’s outstanding loans to the manufacturing industry exceeded 2 trillion yuan (about 298 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of nearly 16 percent compared with the beginning of the year, according to the bank. Medium and long-term loans to the manufacturing industry jumped by 21 percent compared with the beginning of the year, the bank said. The bank has also ratcheted up support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with…