MNI China Press Digest, April 17: Special CGB, Home Renovating

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

on Friday:

     The Chinese Government is expected to issue between CNY1 trillion and

CNY1.5 trillion in Special Chinese Government Bonds, according to Securities

Times. Citing Zhang Yiqun, a deputy director with the Society of Public Finance

of China, the newspaper reported that the issuance of CNY1 trillion is

appropriate given the government's debt-paying ability. The money raised will be

invested in the public health sector and renovating old residential compounds,

Zhang said.

     China will focus on renovating 39,000 urban residential areas this year,

all of them built before the year 2000 and covering seven million households,

the Economic Information Daily reported citing Deputy Minister of Housing and

Urban-Rural Development Huang Yan. This is more than double last year's program,

which covered 3.52 million households. Huang said the large scale of the work

required a joint funding effort, comprising central government subsidies, fiscal

spending and special bond issuance by local governments, as well as private

investment.

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

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

[TOPICS: M$A$$$,M$Q$$$,MI$$$$]