Establish a technological innovation re-loan, launch a special re-loan pilot for inclusive elderly care, and increase the special re-loan quota for clean and efficient utilization of coal? Recently, a series of re-loans have been intensively launched, becoming a "hot word" for monetary policy tools . Experts believe that the expansion of re-lending tools reflects that monetary policy will strengthen structural support for industries that have been greatly affected by the epidemic. This means that on the basis of maintaining reasonable and sufficient liquidity, policy effects place more emphasis on directionality, precision, and directness.
Intensive launch of re-loan tools
In the past month, the People’s Bank of China has successively launched 440 billion yuan of re-loan lines, including a 200 billion yuan re-loan line for scientific and technological innovation, a 40 billion yuan general loan The pilot quota for special re-loans for elderly care will be increased, the quota for special re-loans to support the clean and efficient utilization of coal will be increased by 100 billion yuan, and the re-loans for the transportation and logistics fields will be increased by 100 billion yuan.
Specifically, the scope of scientific and technological innovation re-loan support includes "high-tech enterprises", "specialized and special" small and medium-sized enterprises, national technological innovation demonstration enterprises, manufacturing individual champion enterprises and other technological enterprises. Adopting the direct mechanism of "loan first and borrow later", after financial institutions issue loans to qualified technology enterprises in accordance with market-oriented principles, the People's Bank of China will provide financial support on a quarterly basis for 60% of the loan principal of technology enterprises with a loan period of 6 months or more. .
Special refinancing for inclusive elderly care also adopts the direct mechanism of “loan first and borrow later” and is disbursed quarterly. In the initial stage, five provinces including Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Henan, Hebei, and Jiangxi were selected for pilot projects, with a pilot quota of 40 billion yuan and an interest rate of 1.75%. Financial institutions issue preferential interest rate loans to eligible inclusive elderly care institutions in accordance with market-oriented principles. The loan interest rate is roughly the same as the market quoted interest rate (LPR) for loans of the same term.
The 100 billion yuan special re-loan quota added this time is specifically used in areas related to the development and use of coal and the enhancement of coal reserve capacity, and is disbursed on a monthly basis. Specific areas of support include: First, coal safety production and reserves. Including projects such as modern coal mine construction, green and efficient technology application, intelligent mine construction, coal mine safety renovation, coal washing, and coal reserve capacity building. The second is the area of ??ensuring coal supply for coal power enterprises. Financial institutions should give priority to supporting project loans for safe coal production and reserves. For coal and power enterprises to ensure the supply of thermal coal, working capital loans issued by financial institutions for coal and power enterprises to purchase coal can apply for special re-loan support as required.
Structural policies have become the main focus
Why have re-lending, a structural monetary policy tool, been launched intensively in the recent past? The so-called refinancing refers to funds lent by the central bank to commercial banks, who then lend them to ordinary customers. Since the funds provided by refinancing are stable, low-cost and long-term, it can not only reduce the capital costs of enterprises in related industries, but also effectively disperse the risks borne by banks, stimulate the enthusiasm of banks to serve enterprises, and have a significant effect on leveraging the lending of financial institutions in related fields.
Pan Helin, co-director of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of Zhejiang University International Business School, believes that on the one hand, the current loan structure in the financial sector needs to be optimized urgently, and financial institutions can be optimized by launching a variety of re-lending tools Loan structure. On the other hand, domestic demand is currently shrinking. Providing precise support to key areas through re-lending tools and promoting the optimization of the economic structure can promote economic growth.
Ming Ming, co-chief economist of CITIC Securities, said that in the short term, the goal of monetary policy tends to focus on supporting small and micro enterprises and difficult industries and vulnerable groups affected by the epidemic. Structural monetary policy has directional characteristics and is more suitable for solving structural contradictions in the economy.
“Structured monetary policy tools such as various types of re-lending will drive an additional 1 trillion yuan in loans from financial institutions. Based on past experience, the loans are usually completed within 3 to 6 months. Standing on From a full-year perspective, it is expected that tools such as refinancing will effectively increase the year-on-year growth rate of social financing by 0.3 percentage points," Mingming believes.
Zhang Yiping, co-chief macroeconomic analyst of China Merchants Securities, believes that structural tools are the main direction of monetary policy innovation this year. By introducing the "incentive compatibility mechanism", this tool can provide targeted investment in the market. currency and leveraging bank credit. It is estimated that the use of structural policy tools will drive an additional RMB 1 trillion in loans. Fields such as farmland water conservancy, energy security, and university employment may become the next innovative direction for structural policy tools.
We must speed up the planning of incremental policy tools
The recently held meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China required that "we must speed up the planning of incremental policy tools and increase the intensity of camera control." The "China Monetary Policy Implementation Report for the First Quarter of 2022" recently released by the People's Bank of China also emphasized that structural monetary policy tools should be actively "additional" to guide financial institutions to rationally extend loans and promote financial resources to key areas, weak links and affected areas. Enterprises and industries severely affected by the epidemic will be tilted.
In the opinion of the interviewed experts, structural monetary policy tools have become the key to "stabilizing growth" and have clear room for action at this stage.
“The recent intensive introduction of re-lending tools is mainly due to the needs of financial institutions to increase efficiency, adjust structure and stimulate domestic demand through macroeconomics, and to support economic development and maintain growth through the rapid planning of incremental policy tools.
"Pan Helin believes that it should also be noted that the current monetary policy still maintains a stable tone and is not excessively loose, so the incremental policy tools are mainly structural optimization. In the future, economic structural optimization will continue to advance, and more emphasis will be placed on people's livelihood areas. Credit support.
In addition to giving full play to the structural function of monetary policy, aggregate monetary policy tools must also be used to stay ahead of the market curve, accurately adjust liquidity, and maintain liquidity in the banking system. Reasonable and sufficient. At the same time, we must continue to improve the long-term mechanism for the central bank to adjust money supply liquidity, capital and interest rate constraints, keep the growth rate of broad money and social financing basically consistent with the nominal economic growth rate, stabilize the "monetary anchor", and maintain The intensity of financial support to the real economy avoids "flooding" and effectively prevents macro-financial risks.