- Central bank issues 21 financial support measures for corridor development
- Policies focus on financing, settlement, and cross-border services
- Greater access planned for foreign and regional financial institutions
- Trade volumes along the corridor continue to expand
China’s central bank has unveiled a package of financial measures aimed at accelerating the development of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, according to a statement released on Wednesday.
The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, together with seven other government departments including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance, issued a set of opinions outlining 21 key measures to strengthen financial support for the corridor. The measures are designed to enhance the core financial functions of financing and settlement and support the corridor’s high-quality development.
Strengthening Financial Coordination and Services
The opinions prioritize improving coordination among financial institutions and enhancing service quality along the corridor. This includes strengthening both domestic and overseas financial linkages and encouraging financial institutions to optimize their overseas presence.
The measures also expand access for foreign financial institutions, supporting qualified banks from ASEAN countries and the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions to provide financial services in provinces, regions, and cities along the corridor through the establishment of legal entities, branches, or specialized institutions.
Facilitating Cross-Border Settlement and Investment
To improve fund settlement efficiency, the opinions call for facilitating cross-border trade settlement, promoting convenience in cross-border investment and financing, piloting integrated onshore-offshore currency pools for multinational companies in qualified areas, and supporting domestic reinvestment by foreign-invested enterprises.
The financial policy support not only helps solve financing difficulties in infrastructure construction and other cross-regional or cross-border cooperation, optimizing corporate fund usage and collaboration choices, but also promotes internationalization of yuan through settlement convenience, enhancing import and export trade support, Li Changan, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies under the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
He added that logistics enterprises, foreign trade companies, and manufacturing enterprises are expected to benefit from the measures.
Expanding Cross-Border Yuan Use
The opinions outline steps to expand cross-border use of the yuan along the corridor, including strengthening currency cooperation with Southeast Asian and Central Asian countries, deepening trade and investment settlement in yuan, supporting foreign trade enterprises and ASEAN investors to use the currency, and encouraging banks to conduct cross-border financing, guarantees, and asset transfers in RMB.
Further measures aim to enhance financial openness and cooperation by allowing eligible ASEAN, Hong Kong, and Macao banks to operate along the corridor, promoting participation in a multi-country central bank digital currency bridge, and piloting cross-border digital yuan payments with Thailand, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore.
Trade Growth Along the Corridor
The opinions also emphasize financial risk prevention and related safeguarding measures.
An overall plan for the Western Land-Sea Transportation Corridor was released in August 2019 to deepen two-way sea-land opening and support western China’s development. From January to October this year, total import and export value via the corridor reached 1.35 trillion yuan, up 17.9 percent year-on-year.
Cargo moving through Chongqing Municipality, a key node along the corridor, recorded 48.96 billion yuan in import and export value in the first 11 months of 2025, representing a 1.7-fold increase year-on-year.
Latest data show the Western Land-Sea New Corridor now covers 157 nodes in 73 cities across 18 provinces, regions, and municipalities in China, connecting to 555 ports in 127 countries and regions worldwide.
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Source: Global Times
