Ex-Im Bank to offer bonds

The Export-Import Bank of China plans to sell US$1 billion worth of bonds. Debt offerings by mainland banks have been banned by regulators for the past two years because of China's large foreign exchange reserves and no mainland bank has made such an offering in the past five years. Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and HSBC plan to manage the offering, which is likely to include 10-year maturity fixed-rate bonds. The Export-Import Bank will use proceeds to support foreign currency lending to importers and exporters. Three mainland banks raised a total of US$840 million through overseas debt offerings in 1999.