MNI China Press Digest, April 16:Monetary Policy, GDP, Housing

     BEIJING (MNI) - The following lists highlights from China press reports on

Tuesday:

     The PBOC is unlikely to change the loosening bias of its monetary policy

because the recovering economy still requires an abundance of liquidity,

according to Ming Ming, a former PBOC advisor in a report published today. Ming

said another factor against a change in PBOC policy was the accelerated issuance

of Chinese government and local government bonds which need a low interest rate

environment. Ming pointed to wording by the PBOC's monetary committee in the Q1

regular meeting in which they spoke of "keeping the gate of general money supply

instead of allowing a deluge of liquidity" as confirmation of the marginal

tightening of monetary policy in the first quarter. This does not indicate a

shift of the policy bias, Ming added.

     China's GDP growth may reach 6.3% this year, helped by the ease of the

Sino-U.S. trade war and positive stimulus policies, according to Shen Jianguang,

chief economist at JD Finance. Although the economy is recovering, Shen pointed

out that China requires more substantial reform to stabilize growth, given that

the economy is still facing strong pressure on exports and a possible "liquidity

trap".

     Housing regulations in China have not been relaxed and could be further

tightened if home sales in first and second tier cities become over-heated,

Shanghai Securities News reported today. Most cities are unlikely to remove

their current housing sales restrictions and some have renewed the crackdown in

response to recent media speculation of a robust market recovery, the newspaper

said citing Zhang Dawei, chief analyst at Centaline Property.

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

--MNI Sydney Bureau; +61 405322399; email: lachlan.colquhoun.ext@marketnews.com

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