The branches and foreign exchange administration departments of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government, and the SAFE branches of Shenzhen, Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen, and Ningbo:
In order to maintain an equilibrium in the balance of payments and to guard against risks caused by abnormal inflows of cross-border funds, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has decided to moderately reduce the total scale of the quota for the short-term external debt balance of domestic institutions in 2010. A quota of a total of USD32.4 billion has been ratified for the short-term external debt balance of domestic institutions, representing a decrease of 1.5 percent from the 2009 level. Meanwhile, in order to optimize the structure of the quota distribution and increase efficiency of the use of the quota, the SAFE has adjusted downward the quotas for the Chinese- and foreign-funded financial institutions that have track records of large quotas but poor efficiency in utilization. However, appropriate preferential policies will be provided to joint-equity banks and local commercial banks with rapid growth in their trade financing businesses during recent years. Relevant information about ratification of the quotas for the short-term external debt balance of domestic institutions (hereinafter referred to as quotas) for 2010 (April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011, as below) and the relevant policies are hereby notified as follows:
1. A quota of a total of USD9.938 billion for some Chinese-funded banks for 2010 has been ratified (see Table 1 in the Appendix). 
A quota of a total of USD14.54935 billion for 2010 has been ratified for some legal-person foreign-funded banks and branches of foreign-funded banks that implement centralized administration of their quotas (see Table 2 in the Appendix).
Local quotas of a total of USD7.904 billion have been ratified for Chinese- and foreign-funded legal-person banks, branches of foreign-funded banks that have not implemented centralized administration of quotas, and Chinese-funded enterprises and other relevant institutions within the jurisdiction of the SAFE branches and foreign exchange administration departments (hereinafter referred to branches) (see Table 3 in the Appendix)
For domestic institutions with quotas that have been adjusted downward, if on the date of reduction of the quota, their short-term external debt balance subject to quota control already exceeds the newly-ratified quota, they shall, within 3 months, bring down the short-term external debt balance subject to the actual quota control within the scope of the newly-ratified quota.
2. All branches shall distribute and regulate quotas in a fair and reasonable manner and increase efficiency in the use of quotas based on the status of the utilization of the quotas and the structure of the utilization of the sources of the funds in a bid to serve the needs of economic growth, to bolster trade financing, to guard against external financial risks, and to promote an equilibrium in the balance of payments.
All branches shall guide and encourage domestic institutions to expand their trade financing businesses and to promote the healthy development of the real economy and foreign trade. In the 2010 distribution of the quotas the branches shall give priority to banks with larger amounts of trade settlement in a bid to ensure that the quotas are used preferentially to support the trade financing of the import and export businesses of domestic enterprises.
3. Domestic institutions shall borrow, use, and repay their external debts in strict compliance with the provisions in the Interim Regulations on Statistics and Monitoring of the External Debt, the Interim Measures for External Debt Administration, and other regulations for external debt administration and shall register the external debt in the external debt statistics and monitoring system.
4. Policies concerning the borrowing of short-term external debt by Chinese-funded enterprises:
(1) After ratification of the quotas, a branch can distribute part of the local quotas for 2010 as balances to Chinese-funded enterprises within its jurisdiction that have lived up to the relevant standards.
(2) Quotas distributed to Chinese-funded enterprises after ratification shall only be used for the borrowing of short-term external debt with a contract term not longer than one year (inclusive). The balance of the outstanding principal of the short-term external debt of Chinese-funded enterprises which is subject to quota administration shall not exceed the scale of the ratified quota. The branches can regulate and utilize the quotas among financial institutions and Chinese-funded enterprises based on the quota utilization situation of the institutions within their jurisdiction.
(3) Ratified quotas of Chinese-funded enterprises shall be given to industries that are encouraged or permitted by national industrial policies and that have sound financial statuses and strong solvency. 
(4) The short-term external debt borrowed by Chinese-funded enterprises shall not be used for foreign exchange settlement.
(5) Chinese-funded enterprises shall borrow the short-term external debt in strict compliance with the relevant regulations for the administration of the short-term external debt currently in effect and shall conduct external debt registration on a deal-by-deal basis; the opening of a special account for the external debt and the repayment of the capital and the interest by the Chinese-funded enterprises shall be examined and approved by the SAFE.
5. Branches shall conduct monitoring of the balance and changes in the short-term external debt of financial institutions and Chinese-funded enterprises within their jurisdiction via the external debt statistics and monitoring system, carry out strict control over implementation of the quota for the short-term external debt balance of financial institutions and Chinese-funded enterprises within their jurisdictions, and submit the Form for Implementation of Quotas for the Short-term External Debt Balance of Institutions within Jurisdiction XXX at the end of X Quarter of XXXX (Table 4 in the Appendix) to the of Capital Account Management Department of the SAFE within the last 15 working days of each quarter via the email address on the SAFEs portal Web site (debt@capital.safe).

Appendix: (Omitted)

                                                                                                                    April 21, 2010