China will continue to develop equity investment to provide medium and long-term financing and mobilize more resources without increasing debt burden under the Belt and Road Initiative, said Chen Yulu, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), China’s central bank.

The deputy governor made the remarks at a forum co-chaired by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the PBOC, to promote investment in Central Asia along the BRI routes.

“The cooperation with EBRD has flourished and EBRD plays an essential role in mobilizing sizable private capital and improving local policy environment,” said Chen.

By the end of last year, China has become the 11th largest country in co-financing with the EBRD and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has become the third-largest institution to extend syndicated loans with the EBRD. In the past decade, Chinese enterprises have secured projects worth 500 million euros in EBRD’s procurement tenders.

He also highlighted that financial institutions and enterprises should increase risk awareness and strengthen risk management.

“To mitigate risks in doing businesses, financial institutions should provide more tailored risk management products and services to the corporate sector and also manage their own risk exposure, strengthen the assessment of project, credit and country risks and control risks effectively through reasonable financing structure,” Chen added.