The central bank said Thursday it would ensure China's rural areas were equipped with convenient modern payment services.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement released on its website that improving payment services in the countryside will boost consumption there, raise farmers' living standards and improve social equity.

The PBOC has taken measures to encourage banking institutions to provide services to rural areas, help the country's payment system to move toward the central and western regions, and satisfy the basic financial needs of people in rural areas.

The central bank has initiated programs that benefit farmers, including a program to give farmers convenient drawing services with bank cards, the statement said.

Since that program started in July 2011, Chinese farmers have made 2.5 million transactions with their cards and a total of 770 million yuan (122.24 million U.S. dollars) was involved by the end of last year.

China's retail sales of consumer goods in 2011 reached 18.12 trillion yuan, among which only 2.43 trillion yuan were made in rural areas, according to data from the National Statistics Bureau.

The per capita consumption of rural areas was approximately one-sixth of consumption of China's cities.

"On one hand, this is a reflection of problems caused by the unbalanced development of our economy, on the other hand, it indicates there is ample room for increased consumption in rural areas," the statement said.

The central bank said as consumption and investment in rural areas increases, there must be supporting financial services.

Banking institutions should seize this opportunity to improve their services to farmers, according to the statement.

The central bank said it would also expand the payment network to cover more regions, reinforce risk prevention to ensure capital safety, and provide information about the payment system to farmers through multiple channels.