BOC loans help support Tibet's development

Bank of China announced that it has provided more than 12 billion yuan or 1.9 billion U.S. dollars of loans to support Tibet's development over the past ten years.

In the first half of the year, the BOC extended 1 billion yuan of new loans, which accounted for more than 30 percent of the total new lending in the period in the region, according to the bank's web site.

These loans have made possible the much-needed assistance to the development of the region's transportation, telecommunications, energy, and water-related infrastructure sectors.

They have also boosted the mining, tourism, Tibetan medicine and ethnic handcraft industries in the southwestern region.