China central bank raises limit on small bank payments

BEIJING -- China's central bank has temporarily raised the upper limit on small bank batch payments in support of the country's fight against the novel coronavirus-related pneumonia.

The People's Bank of China said Friday that it has raised the upper limit on small bank batch payments to 500 million yuan (about $72.4 million) from Jan 24 to 30 to ease fund transfers in the fight against the pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus.

Some 830 confirmed cases of the pneumonia had been reported in 29 provincial-level regions in the country by the end of Thursday.

Among them, 34 had been cured and discharged from hospitals, according to the National Health Commission.

A total of 1,072 suspected cases have been reported in 20 provincial-level regions, according to the commission.

Chinese policy bank offers emergency loan for Wuhan epidemic control

The China Development Bank, one of the country's major policy banks, offered emergency loans worth 2 billion yuan (about $288.3 million) Friday to Wuhan for prevention and control of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

The fund was approved and paid in a fast-track manner, and will be used for medical aid, emergency equipment, disease treatment, epidemic control and other fields in Wuhan, the capital city of central China's Hubei Province and the center of the 2019-nCoV outbreak.

The country's finance ministry Thursday allocated a total of 1 billion yuan to support Hubei's battle against 2019-nCoV.