(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-27 14:46

In 2001, the "Wuyuan mode" was popularized across the country. The micro-loan program was implemented by more than 90 percent of rural credit cooperatives, major sources of capital for agriculture in China, by the end of that year.

After seven years of development, the country's micro-loan mode has become more mature and better regulated. "The micro loans ended the history of difficult lending and borrowing and bad credit environment in rural areas", said Xiao Siru, China Banking Association deputy chief and also the Jiangxi Provincial Rural Credit Union president.

Different from the 20 percent annual rate of Grameen Bank, a Bangladeshi micro credit concept that has been replicated in more than 100 nations, the annual rate of China's micro loans is less than 10 percent.

"The Wuyuan mode is never less meaningful than the Grameen Bank. It has tackled the capital bottleneck of the largest population of farmers in the world," said Fan Fangzhi, a Jiangxi Agriculture University economics professor.

China's micro loans have won farmers' hearts since its entry into the market. The balance of micro loans had reached 204 billion yuan. Chinese banks have provided micro loans worth more than 900 billion yuan to date and benefited more than 77 million households, about 25 percent of all rural households.

"ISO9001:2000 is an internationally-recognized regulation mode that demonstrates China's regulation in micro loans has reached international standard,"said quality control expert Zhang Li when speaking on the Wuyuan County Rural Credit Union's ISO certification on February 18.

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