MNI China Press Digest, Aug 18: Money Supply, Digital Currency, Tourism

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Tuesday:

China will likely refrain from tightening monetary policy due to external and domestic uncertainties and will continue to expand M1 and social financing at reasonable rates, according to Dong Ximiao, a researcher with Renmin University. Writing in the Economic Information Daily, Dong said China's future monetary policies should be more targeted and precise and implemented in a timely manner. Policies such as targeted RRR cuts for small and medium banks to better support small businesses, rediscount policies and monetary tools to push financial institutions to help release pressure on small businesses to repay loans are all part of the approach in future policy making, Dong wrote.

China will likely limit the scope of the digital yuan pilot release until it shows mature acceptance in areas including Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou and Xiong'an, as well as the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022, the Securities Times said in a front-page comment. While the details of the digital currency haven't been released, the newspaper speculated that users will likely access it through an application launched by the central bank, similar to current digital payments. The biggest concern is how the digital currency may disrupt the current central bank-commercial bank structure, as registering through the PBOC's digital currency app could mean opening a bank account directly with the PBOC. This may impact the central bank's balance sheet and the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission, the newspaper said.

China's tourism market is recovering with increasing group tours, CCTV News reported on Tuesday. Hubei province, the previous epicenter of the pandemic, attracted 3.26 million tourists in nine days after introducing free-entry policy at about 400 scenic spots, CCTV said. Traffic in 101 of these scenic spots has reached or exceeded the level of the same period last year, CCTV said.