Banks in the industrial town of Zibo in Shandong province, recently dubbed the “outdoor barbecue capital,” are offering fast, cheap loans to restaurants and suppliers in a bid to capitalise on the craze as competition among Chinese lenders for good borrowers intensifies, reports the South China Morning Post.
Qishang Bank launched a low-interest loan, named Bozi—Bo refers to Zibo while Zi means tasty—last month offering as much as RMB 1 million ($140,000) to barbecue related merchants and suppliers—shops selling grills, for example—that have been operating for more than six months.
The loan, which can be approved the same day, has an interest as low as 3.65%, equal to the central bank’s benchmark one-year loan prime rate (LPR). Qishang Bank is one of several lenders that have rushed to generate new business in the wake of Zibo’s new-found fame.
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