China Press Digest: Monday, Oct. 23

     The following are highlights from the China press and government websites

for Monday, Oct. 23:

     China's real economy still faces downward pressures as lower returns

discourage investments, National Development and Reform Commission Chairman He

Lifeng told reporters in Beijing on Sunday, according to a transcript on

government portal China.com.cn. China's key economic tasks are to boost private

investment and steer capital to the real economy away from speculation, He said.

The economy will have a value of more than CNY8 trillion at the end of this year

as growth is likely to exceed the government target of 6.5%, said He, who echoed

opinions expressed by other ministers in recent days, including the heads of the

statistics bureau and the central bank.

     China will resolutely stick to its targets for controlling the real estate

market, Wang Menghui, the minister in charge of housing, told reporters on

Saturday in Beijing, the China Securities Journal reported. Government measures

have slowed the growth in property sales and eased price increases, Wang said.

Looking forward, Wang predicted property sales growth would likely slow further

and transaction prices would stabilize. The government will stick to the

"housing isn't for speculation" principle and boost housing supply, particularly

rental units, Wang said. (China Security Journal)

     China will further deepen its supply-side reform measures to strength the

real economy and nurture new drivers for its next phase of growth, the Economic

Information Daily said in an editorial on Saturday. China's economic troubles

are caused by the real economy's structural imbalances in supply and demand, by

the deviation of speculative financing from the real economy and the deviation

of investor and home-owner demand in the housing sector, said the newspaper

owned by the official Xinhua News Agency. China will further remove excess

industrial capacity, continue property controls and deleveraging, and support

weak sectors including municipal services and environmental protection, it said.

(Economic Information Daily)