March 09, 2007	Friday	Safar 19, 1428

BEIJING, March 8: China abolished on Thursday its trade-boosting discounted lending rates for its major export firms, a move designed to trim its massive and growing trade surplus.

The cancellation of the allowance that provided key export companies with up to a 10 per cent discount on bank loan rates was effective immediately, a joint statement from the central bank, and forex, commerce and tax regulators said.

The end of the measure, introduced in 2000, came as China struggles to reduce a trade surplus in its favour which hit a record $177 billion last year.

China's trade surplus broke records again in January with official data on Monday showing a 67 per cent rise from a year ago.

Beijing pledged earlier this year to take new steps to rein in exports, warning that otherwise China would face another spike in the surplus that would roil already tense relations with China's major trading partners.

China's biggest trading partners, especially the US, blame the mammoth trading imbalance on an artificially weak currency, the yuan, arguing that it gives mainland exporters an unfair advantage.—AFP