MNI China Press Digest, April 22: Reform, Foreign Capital, RRR

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

on Monday:

     The politburo meeting held last Friday sent a strong signal that further

reform measures will be rolled out, said the Financial News, a newspaper run by

the PBOC. The politburo for the first time blamed the slowing economy on the

so-called "institutional factors," a signal that short-term stimulus cannot

solve the structural and institutional problems and the government should deepen

medium- and long-term reform once the economy recovers and stabilizes, the

newspaper said.

     China will need more overseas capital to underpin its economic growth, said

The Paper on Saturday citing Fang Xinghai, deputy director of the China

Securities Regulatory Commission. China's current account was barely in

equilibrium last year, which suggested the country's saving may be insufficient

to support investment, a phenomenon unseen since 1993, Fang was cited as saying

by the newspaper. China's investment growth therefore needs more foreign capital

as the aging society and changing consumption of the younger generation reduce

sayings, the newspaper said citing Fang.

     The PBOC is likely to further cut target reserve requirement ratios to ease

the financing difficulties for private and small companies, said Securities

Daily citing Wu Qi, a senior researcher at a think tank Pangoal Institution.

Cutting RRRs for all institutions isn't likely as the liquidity is ample and

March indicators pointed to a recovery, the daily said citing Wu.

--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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