China Press Digest Oct 8: Evergrande, FX Reserves, Electricity

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Friday:

• China will maintain the focus on deflating the real estate bubble and reducing risks, and won't change its pace of economic adjustment in order to quell the market, the Global Times said in an editorial. The state-owned tabloid responded to speculation that the widening debt crisis faced by Evergrande, Group, the country's biggest developer, may push the Chinese economy into a "Lehmen Brothers" moment. Evergrande's fate remains uncertain as it has been trying to raise funds to resolve its liquidity crisis, the newspaper said. Evergrande's challenges were due to its high leverage and credit bubbles, a shared phenomenon among Chinese developers, said the newspaper. However, Evergrande's recent failure to pay overdue bills is a troubling sign for the entire property industry, which may spread contagion risks to upstream and downstream, said the newspaper.
• China's foreign exchange reserve fell by 0.97% at the end of September from a month ago to $3.2 trillion, as the rising dollar index led to falling prices of financial assets of "major countries," the Securities Times said citing Wang Chunying, the spokeswoman of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. China's "resilient" growth will keep the forex reserves stable, but it needs to further boost internal demand and balance risks amid challenges from the global pandemic to changes in the U.S. monetary policy, the newspaper said citing analyst Wen Bin of Minsheng Bank.
• China's banks and financial institutions shall try to meet the reasonable financing needs of coal, steel, non-ferrous metals companies, boost supports for major coal-producing areas and key coal producers to increase the supply of electricity and coal through the winter, the China Securities Journal said citing the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. The regulator urged insitutions to keep the normal order of the coal power industry and the commodities markets, as well as to strictly prevent misuing bancasurance funds to hoard and drive up prices, the jouirnal reported.