The General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission ("NDRC") has recently issued the Circular on the Application for the Scale of Medium- and Long-term Foreign Debts in 2020 by Foreign-invested Banks in China (the "Circular").

The Circular reads that a foreign-invested bank may submit, to the NDRC through the relevant provincial-level development and reform commission, an application for an adjusted increase in the scale of medium- and long-term foreign debts, by the deadline of December 31, 2020. Branches established in China by a foreign-invested bank may share and adjust, among themselves, the medium- and long-term foreign debt quota, but the internal adjustment should be reported by its leading reporting branch in China to the NDRC for record-filing. Meanwhile, the Circular expressly states that in determining the scale of medium- and long-term foreign debts in 2020, the NDRC will mainly give consideration to the actual use of foreign debts in the most recent three years and the demands for foreign exchange in the loans for investment projects of fixed assets and the loans for medium- and long-term working capital in 2020. The Circular also notes that each foreign-invested bank shall make good use of foreign debt capital in line with national industry policies and the key priorities stated in the strategic planning, to give stronger support to the real economy, promote the integrated development of financial capital and industrial capital and add impetus to industrial transformation and upgrading and the supply-side structural reform.

(Source: National Development and Reform Commission)