Beijing, July 30 :

China will accelerate the pace of financial reform in rural areas and provide more financial services for farmers, state media today quoted a senior Chinese banking official saying.

Around 60 per cent of China’s population lives in the countryside and increasing farmers’ incomes, which are far below those of urban dwellers, is one of the major goals of China’s leaders as they try to boost consumer spending as a main engine of growth.

Financial reform in the countryside lags behind urban areas, Xinhua quoted Tang Shuangning, vice-chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, saying.

To remedy the problem, China would reform major rural loan providers, including the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), the Agricultural Development Bank of China (ADBC) and

rural credit cooperatives, Tang said.

The Agricultural Bank would be transformed into a state-owned commercial bank, while the Agricultural Development Bank would also be reformed to increase its capacity to serve agriculture, according to Tang.

Rural credit cooperatives would be turned into modern financial enterprises over a five to 10 year period, Tang said. Postal savings banks would also be established, he said.

About 60 per cent or 800 million of China’s population lives in the countryside.

However, agriculture-related loans amounted to less than one-fifth of all lending by 2005 in China, Xinhua furthe reported.

Tang said the Agricultural Bank would improve services for key agricultural industries and leading rural companies, while the Agricultural Development Bank would increase loans to poverty-stricken areas.

The government has made building a ‘new socialist countryside’ — meaning improved agricultural production, living conditions and public administration — a key task for the

next five years.

Rural development, however, needs a great deal of investment and banking institutions should step up their efforts to build a solid rural financial service system, said Tang, speaking yesterday at a rural finance forum meeting.

First labour union

BEIJING: The first labour union at a Wal-Mart store in China has been formed following a lobbying campaign by the country’s official union group. Thirty employees at a Wal-Mart store in the southeastern city of Qua-nzhou, in Fujian province, voted on Saturday to form a union, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. It said a 29-year-old employee named Ke Yunlong was elected chairman of its seven-member committee. The official All-China Federation of Trade Unions has been lobbying Wal-Mart Stores Inc for two years to organise employees of its 60 stores in China, and accused the company of obstructing its efforts. — AP