China's central bank actively promotes third-party cooperation under BRI

BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The People's Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank, has actively advanced the third-party cooperation along the Belt and Road routes jointly with the multilateral development institutions and achieved fruitful results.

It is reported that under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the PBOC has actively carried out joint financing with the multilateral development institutions.

For example, the PBOC has invested 3 billion U.S. dollars to establish a co-financing fund with the International Finance Corporation (IFC). It invested some 2 billion U.S. dollars and established the Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF) with the African Development Bank. It contributed 2 billion U.S. dollars to set up the China Co-financing Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean Region with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The PBOC contributed 250 million euros to the Equity Participation Fund (EPF) of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

As of the end of the first quarter of 2019, the above-mentioned joint financing mechanisms had invested more than 3 billion U.S. dollars in early 200 projects, covering the Belt and Road-related regions, such as Europe, Central Asia and Latin America, and involving water supply sanitation, transportation, agriculture, and youth fields.

These projects have benefited the local communities and people greatly. The co-financing fund set up jointly by the PBOC and the IFC has provided financing support for the first large wind farm project in Serbia to assist in solving the shortage of electricity and energy in the local market.

Third-party cooperation between China and multilateral development institutions or developed countries can promote complementary advantages and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, said the PBOC.

Cooperating with multilateral development institutions, China can improve the efficiency of project screening and ensure the safety of its own funds. At the same time, it can show its sincerity of complying with international rules to the international community and improve the international reputation of the Chinese financial institutions. Cooperation between China and developed countries can make full use of the latter's advantages in capital, talents and technology to improve resource allocation and enhance the efficiency of capital utilization.