Financial war ＂epidemic＂, monetary policy in action! More than 2,600 enterprises have obtained preferential interest rate loans exceeding 100 billion yuan.

　　Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the whole country has been engaged in the "epidemic". As the blood of the real economy, finance also plays a "strong backing" function, providing "blood transfusion and oxygen supply" for fighting the epidemic and resuming production. Among them, the central bank launched a special refinancing policy at the end of January, providing a total of 300 billion yuan of low-cost special refinancing funds to nine national banks and some local corporate banks in 10 key provinces (cities) such as Hubei, and supporting financial institutions to provide preferential interest rate loans to key enterprises responding to the epidemic, so as to accurately support the supply of key materials and daily necessities for epidemic prevention and control.

　　Due to the favorable interest rate of special refinancing, the central bank requires financial institutions to provide loans to enterprises on the list at preferential interest rates. The upper limit of interest rate is the latest published one-year loan market quotation rate (LPR) minus 100 basis points, which is currently 3.05%, and encourages financial institutions to provide loans at lower interest rates. In addition, the Ministry of Finance will give 50% discount to key enterprises according to the actual interest rate of loans to ensure that the actual financing cost of enterprises falls below 1.6%.

　　Up to now, it has been one month since the introduction of the special refinancing policy. What is the implementation of the policy?

　　According to the data learned by the reporter from the central bank, as of March 2, financial institutions used special refinancing to issue loans of 117.3 billion yuan to 2,674 listed enterprises, with a weighted average interest rate of 2.57%, which realized the effective transmission of preferential interest rates to key enterprises. Among them, 9 national banks issued loans of 69.9 billion yuan to 1232 national key enterprises, with a weighted average interest rate of 2.43%; Local corporate banks and six national banks issued loans of 47.3 billion yuan to 1442 local key enterprises, with a weighted average interest rate of 2.79%.

　　The industry generally believes that the special refinancing policy accurately and quickly supports financial institutions to expand credit supply to key enterprises in epidemic prevention and control, which is of great significance for key enterprises to start work and resume production as soon as possible, and meet the financial needs of epidemic prevention and control as soon as possible. It is an important measure for monetary policy to take the initiative and respond positively and support winning the epidemic prevention and control war.

　　As an innovative structural monetary policy tool, the special re-lending policy embodies the word "accuracy" in the way of fund distribution and management, and strengthens the fund guarantee for key enterprises.

　　In terms of capital investment management, the People’s Bank of China implements the list management of key enterprises to ensure that special refinancing is accurately invested in front-line enterprises that directly support epidemic prevention. Key enterprises include enterprises that produce, transport and sell key medical prevention and control materials and daily necessities, such as enterprises that produce medical masks, medical goggles, sterilizers, disinfectant and other products to deal with the epidemic. Specifically, it includes two categories. One is the national key enterprise, which is determined by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; Second, local key enterprises are determined by the provincial governments of key provinces (cities).

　　In the way of fund distribution, the reimbursement system of "loan first and then borrow" is adopted for special refinancing. Financial institutions first issue loans that meet the requirements to key enterprises, and then apply to the People’s Bank for special refinancing, ensuring that the special refinancing funds are invested more accurately. In terms of the progress of fund distribution, the central bank issued special re-loans to banks on a weekly basis, and the first batch of special re-loans was issued on February 10. As of March 4, the People’s Bank of China issued a special refinancing loan of 184 billion yuan as the initial fund to promote financial institutions to issue preferential interest rate loans quickly.

　　In the face of epidemic, time is life. Liu Guoqiang, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, previously requested that financial institutions should, in principle, issue loans in place within one day or at most two days after obtaining the list of enterprises. From the practice of financial institutions, banks generally open green channels, simplify the examination and approval process, and organize loans efficiently, among which the fastest one can complete the capital investment in only 8 hours.

　　In the key areas of the epidemic, the policy has already taken the lead in landing quickly. Wuhan Branch of the People’s Bank of China has designated Hubei Bank, Hankou Bank and Wuhan Rural Commercial Bank as special refinancing targets, and established a rapid approval mechanism for special refinancing and a daily loan issuance system, which has effectively met the capital needs of 123 key enterprises in Hubei epidemic prevention and control. For example, the Three Gorges Branch of ICBC issued a one-year loan of 200 million yuan to Ogilvy & Mather Medical Products Company with an interest rate of 3.15% to support enterprises to expand production and make full efforts to make medical protective masks. Guangzhou Branch of the People’s Bank of China will speed up the issuance of special refinancing loans, and realize the same-day application, the same-day approval and the same-day receipt. Hangzhou Branch of the People’s Bank of China urged financial institutions to fully cover the capital needs of key enterprises and support them one by one.

　　Special refinancing has a large number and low price, which is emergency money and life-saving money. How to balance efficiency and safety and ensure that "good steel is used in the cutting edge"?

　　In this regard, in addition to the role of the enterprise list system as the first pass, financial institutions should also ensure the issuance of preferential loans. The People’s Bank of China requires financial institutions to strictly examine and approve and issue loans quickly, and the purpose of loans should comply with the relevant provisions of the People’s Bank of China, so as to ensure that special refinancing funds are used for the production and business activities needed by key enterprises to prevent and control the epidemic situation at the first time. At the same time, the People’s Bank of China requires financial institutions to establish electronic ledgers and track and check the use of funds. In addition, the Audit Commission also strengthened follow-up supervision on the use of special refinancing funds to prevent the funds from "leaking". (Reporter Li Guohui correspondent Song Wei)