Special Report: 17th CPC National Congress

    BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim Bank) said on Thursday there is still no timetable for it to go public.

    Plans to restructure the policy bank into a commercial one are still under discussion before they are to be finalized by the People's Bank of China, said Li Ruogu, governor of China Exim Bank, at a press briefing on the sideline of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

    Even after its commercialization, the bank will still work to promote foreign economic cooperation. "We won't turn to domestic railway, road or real estate projects," Li said.

    The bank will provide normal banking services but will seek little profit, "just enough to cover our costs", he added.

    Compared with the business reshuffle, Li said management reform is more important to ensure sound operation and prevent non-performing loans (NPL). His bank currently records a NPL ratio of around 2.5 percent.

    In an effort to rein in China's huge trade surplus, which hit 185.65 billion U.S. dollars in the first nine months of this year, China Exim Bank has granted 20 billion U.S. dollars of supportive fund to promote Chinese imports from other countries, Li said.

    China's trade surplus totaled 177.47 billion U.S. dollars for the whole of 2006, according to the General Administration of Customs.

    Li said his bank has no immediate plan to issue foreign currency bonds overseas, given China's present ample foreign exchange reserves. "Nor are we planning to introduce strategic investors from overseas in the short-and medium-term, let's say in five years."

    China Exim Bank received approval from the central bank in July to issue two billion yuan worth of Renminbi bonds in Hong Kong.

    China Exim Bank, founded in 1994, was solely owned by the government. It serves to boost the nation's foreign trade and economic cooperation by providing policy financing, on lending foreign government loans and lending Chinese Government Concessional Loans.

    It has 10 business branches and five representative offices nationwide and three overseas representative offices in South Africa, Paris and St. Petersburg.