(Yicai Global) May 26 -- The People’s Bank of China still has no exact plans for when it will roll out an official Chinese cryptocurrency, according to the central bank’s governor.

The PBOC is running pilot tests in some cities but considers this routine research work, Yi Gang said in a media interview during the Two Sessions in Beijing, the annual meetings of China’s national legislature and top political advisory body. This is no indication of when the digital yuan will hit the market, he added.

China’s digital currency/electronic payment, or DC/EP, has undergone or will undergo internal closed tests in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong’an New Area, Chengdu and during the 2020 Winter Olympics in Beijing so the central bank can examine systems, functions and risk, the PBOC said in a press release today that cited Yi.

The PBOC set up a taskforce in 2014 to research digital currencies and the team has completed top-level designs, formulated standards and functions and carried out related testing, Yi said. The legal digital currency will make life more convenient for the public while improving security and reducing the possibility of counterfeiting, he said.

The central bank has rolled out a currency hedging policy worth CNY5.9 trillion (USD828 billion) to help recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, Yi added. Next steps will include using a variety of monetary policy tools to ensure the growth of broad money M2 and social financing is significantly faster than last year.

The bank will continue to provide support for small and mid-sized businesses, he said. As of April 30, Chinese financial institutions have deferred CNY1.2 trillion worth of principal and interest repayments on loans for small companies and will soon further defer payback, Yi added, saying payments due on loans expiring before the end of this year can be pushed back until the end of next March.

Editor: James Boynton