N. China's Inner Mongolia improves financial services to support BRI, official

North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has persistently improved financial services to support the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) over the past decade, the China Financialyst quoted Li Jingyang, deputy director of Inner Mongolia Branch, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), as saying on Monday.

In particular, Inner Mongolia has focused on improving the cross-border financial services to support the transactions under the BRI. The region has deepened reforms in foreign exchange administration, streamlined transaction processes, and improved the efficiency of cross-border settlement services, according to Li, also deputy director of Inner Mongolia Branch, State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

For example, since 2020 when the electronic document was adopted to facilitate the foreign exchange transactions, the region has guided the local banks to use it to handle cross-border transactions, which helps the enterprises to quickly complete transactions, Li added.

From 2022 to the end of June 2023, through the application of the cross-border financial services platform, a total of 259 financing transactions for 99 enterprises were handled, with an amount of 79.66 million U.S. dollars, up 150 percent year on year.

As an important bridgehead for China's opening to the north, Inner Mongolia will make efforts to persistently facilitate trade and investment, improve business environment, and create a favorable environment for foreign exchange transactions under the BRI, said Li.

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is situated at the northern frontier of China, serving as a pivotal link connecting Russia and Mongolia and a crucial gateway for the Silk Road Economic Belt towards the north and west, with a border extending over 4,200 kilometers. (Edited by Xie Weijia, Hu Pingchao, hupingchao@xinhua.org)