MNI China Press Digest, Sep 1: Yuan, Bad Loans, Environment

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Tuesday:

The yuan is likely to maintain strength at around 6.9 against the dollar due to the weakness of the dollar index, the Securities Daily reported citing Cao Yuanyuan, a research director at Golden Credit Rating. China's increasing financial openness and stable monetary policies improve the yuan's perceived safety and returns, which in turn attract capital inflow, Wang Youxin, a researcher from BOC's research institution told the Daily.

Rising bad loans were largely responsible for profit falls at Chinese banks this year, according to a commentary in the Economic Daily. Bad loan provisions for commercial banks were at CNY5 trillion at the end of Q2, up CNY206 billion from Q1, the Daily said. The central government's push for banks to lower costs for client companies were offset with central bank measures, and therefore didn't contribute significantly to banks' reduced profits, the Daily said.

China's Communist Party Politburo has urged governments to devise plans for improving the protection of the environment and also development along the Yellow River tributary, according to minutes from a Monday meeting chaired by Chairman Xi Jinping released by Xinhua News Agency. Striving for these outcomes was within the 14th Five Year Plan, the minutes said.