China Development Bank ups financial support for Greater Bay Area

China Development Bank (CDB) will provide 360 billion yuan (about US$50.5 billion) of financing support to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in 2020 as authorities called for further efforts to promote the development of the area.

Photo taken on Oct. 24, 2019 shows a view of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge from the "Ngong Ping 360" cable car in China's Hong Kong. [Photo/Xinhua]

The financing includes 290 billion yuan of loans, and a total of 110 billion yuan will be spent on technology innovation and strategic emerging industries, according to the CDB.

Earlier this month, Chinese regulators including the People's Bank of China and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a guideline calling for financial support for the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The guideline put forward 26 specific measures to promote the Greater Bay Area's cross-border trade, facilitate investment and financing, expand the opening-up of the financial sector, promote the connectivity of financial markets and financial infrastructure, and boost innovation of financial services.

Chinese authorities in February 2019 unveiled the outline development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, aiming to develop the region into a role model of high-quality development.

The Greater Bay Area consists of Hong Kong, Macao and nine cities in Guangdong — Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing.