China may write off more bad loans

China is studying writing off half of the bad loans held by China Construction Bank (CCB) and Bank of China (BOC), according to a senior official. China injected US$45 billion into the two banks in December 2003. If approved, the People's Bank of China will issue RMB 268 billion in central bank bills to improve the banks� balance sheets before possible IPOs next year. At the end of 2003, CCB's bad loan ratio stood at 9.25%, while BOC's was 15.64%.