MNI China Press Digest, April 18: Yuan, RRR Cut, LGBs

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

on Thursday:

     China's declining foreign trade surplus won't lead the yuan to further

depreciation, but will instead help stabilize the exchange rate, Guan Tao, a

senior researcher at China Finance 40 Forum, wrote in a report published by

China Business News today. China's improving economy and the inclusion of its

stocks and bonds in global indexes will draw capital inflow, Guan wrote.

     The PBOC is unlikely to cut reserve requirement ratios in the short term

after injecting liquidity by reverse repos and medium-term lending facility,

said China Securities Journal on its frontpage today. With better-than-expected

Q1 economic data, the PBOC is under less pressure to cut RRR, and it is expected

to continue reserve repo injection with greater intensity in the near future,

the newspaper said.

     The pace of China's local government bond issuances will slow in Q2 after

half of the target this year has been met in Q1, said Securities Daily citing

Zhang Yiqun, a researcher at the Society of Public Finance. LGB issuance

year-to-date reached CNY1.5358 trillion on Tuesday, the newspaper said citing

its calculations. The funds were invested in affordable housing, railways,

highways, urban public infrastructure, and water conservancy projects, the daily

said.

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

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 10 8532 5998; email: william.bi@mni-news.com

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