China central bank frees up some firms for overseas borrowing

China's central bank said on Friday that 27 financial institutions, as well as firms registered in free trade zones in Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Fujian, would no longer need approval to issue foreign debt. The central bank will apply its macro-prudential management rules to the selected firms from January 25, letting them conduct cross-border financing activity up to a limit linked to their assets or net assets, it said in a statement on its website.
The central bank said it had accumulated "replicable experiences" from a pilot scheme on cross-border financing in Shanghai's free trade zone that was launched in early 2005.