BEIJING (Reuters) - China has promised to help firms lower their funding costs by giving banks more flexibility to lend and allowing loss-making companies to list in stock markets, among other measures.
The State Council, or cabinet, said on Wednesday after a weekly meeting that it would also find new ways to use China's $3.9 trillion (2 trillion pounds) foreign exchange reserves to help Chinese firms expand abroad.
Banks will be given more flexibility when meeting the loan-to-deposit rule, which requires them to lend no more than 75 percent of their deposits, the government said in an online statement after the cabinet meeting.
The assessment criteria of banks' performances would also be revised to prevent banks from charging "unreasonably high interest rates", as well as "loving the big and hating the small" when it decides whom to lend to.
Plans to unveil simplified rules for new initial public offers would be accelerated, and a requirement for companies to have been profitable for a sustained period of time before they list would also be removed.
No further details were given.
Hurt by flagging growth from manufacturing to investment and domestic spending, China's economy experienced its worst slowdown since the 2008/09 financial crisis in the September quarter.
The cooling economy has compounded the difficulties of Chinese companies, which are already battling rising labour costs. Smaller companies have also complained of climbing funding costs.
The government said in August that the financing costs faced by factories leapt 16.5 percent on a yearly basis in the first-half of this year, with interest payments climbing 11.2 percent.
(Reporting by Koh Gui Qing; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)