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World Bank Group lends to Chinese poverty alleviation

Xinhua, July 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

The World Bank Group (WBG) will provide 150 million U.S. dollars as a long-term loan to a poverty reduction project in China that aims to help impoverished farmers launch their own businesses.

China's Ministry of Finance confirmed the loan on Monday and said the project will be implemented from July 2015 to March 2021 with a loan period of 29 years.

This is the sixth poverty relief program in China to be granted WBG financial aid.

The project will help form and develop agricultural industrial chains with higher value added for farmers, with the process guided by industry experts and companies, the ministry said.

Last week, WBG President Jim Yong Kim and Finance Minister Lou Jiwei announced a 50-million-U.S.-dollar trust fund to help reduce poverty.

In 2014, the number of rural Chinese who earned less than 2,300 yuan (less than 380 U.S. dollars) annually stood at 70.17 million, 12.32 million less than in 2013. Endi