China Development Bank enhances support for top-10 provincial economic heavyweights

The China Development Bank has enhanced its financial support for the country's top 10 provincial economic heavyweights.

The state-owned financial institution said on Monday that it had extended 185 billion yuan (about 25 billion U.S. dollars) in loans to projects in these 10 provinces in the first quarter of this year.

These provinces, including Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shandong, accounted for over 60 percent of China's GDP in 2024.

The total loan amount was 38 percent higher from the first quarter of 2024, and was approved to support the acceleration of major projects and the developmement of new quality productive forces in these provinces.

Heavy rains prompted several regions across China to activate emergency responses on Sunday, with warnings of possible disasters caused by days of intense rains in some areas.

The meteorological service of Nanning City, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, issued an orange lightning warning on Sunday morning.

It warned that most urban areas of Nanning will be affected by thunderstorm and some parts of the city will see heavy precipitation and strong winds.

The lightning warning was followed by another yellow warning for rainstorm, with most parts of Nanning to see heavy rains of 20 to 40 millimeters.

In some areas, precipitation will exceed 50 millimeters and will also be accompanied by thunder and gusty winds.

The central province of Hubei activated a Level III emergency response for major meteorological disasters on Sunday morning.

Local meteorological service estimated that from Sunday night to Tuesday, the province will see heavy to torrential rains and some regions will experience downpours accompanied by severe convective weather.

Local authorities said the public should stay alert to secondary disasters triggered by persistent heavy rains.

Rains hit north China's Tianjin Municipality on Saturday night.