China Press Digest: Wednesday, September 27

     BEIJING (MNI) - The following are highlights from the China press for

Wednesday, September  27:

     The Asian Development Bank on Tuesday raised its forecast for Chinese

growth this year and next, in line with other international organizations.

Chinese GDP is now seen rising 6.7% this year, revised up from the bank's

previous 6.5% forecast in April. Growth will slow to 6.4% in 2018, but this was

revised up from the 6.2% forecast in April. The bank attributed the upward

revision to China's expansionary fiscal policy, relatively stable external

demand and healthy domestic consumption.

     Chinese state-owned enterprises reported relatively strong growth in

revenues and profits in the January-to-August period this year, according to

data released Tuesday by the Ministry of Finance. SOEs' revenue grew 15.5% y/y

to CNY33.07638 trillion, while their profit rose 21.7% to CNY1.91141 trillion.

The steel and non-ferrous metal industries, which saw losses in the same period

last year, returned to profit; the coal, oil, and transportation sectors saw

large y/y increases in profit; while the electricity sector saw a relatively

large y/y profit decline, the ministry said.

     Chinese asset-backed securities (ABS) issuance has boomed this year, the

21st Century Business Herald reported Wednesday. As of September 26, CNY171.3

billion in ABS had been issued, more than four times the volume in the same

period last year and more than twice the full-year volume last year, the

newspaper said, citing data from China Securitization Analytics, an industry

website. The main reason for the ABS boom is government's increasingly strict

controls on the property sector, leading capital to look for opportunities in

the real economy, the newspaper said. The report also cited an expert noting

regulators in general are encouraging ABS issuance but arguing they should give

more consideration to whether ABS truly boost consumption. (21st Century

Business Herald)

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: iris.ouyang@marketnews.com

--MNI BEIJING Bureau; +1 202-371-2121; email: john.carter@mni-news.com

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