MNI China Press Digest Jan 25: Credit, GDP Targets, Evergrande

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Tuesday:

• The People’s Bank of China urged banks to prioritize credit growth with an "all-out" effort to achieve a good start in Q1, support the reasonable financing needs of real estate developers and better meet home purchase demand, the Shanghai Securities News reported citing a conference held by the central bank in Beijing. Maintaining stability is the biggest progress before the downward economic pressure is fundamentally relieved, the meeting said, emphasizing that finance should play a keep role in underpinning the economy.
• Most provinces in China set their annual economic growth targets this year lower than their actual growth rate in 2021 amid increased downward pressure, Caixin reported. Economically developed provinces in China such as Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanghai and Beijing mostly set the 2022 growth target between 5% and 5.5%, which are references for understanding the national GDP target, the newspaper said citing Guo Lei, chief economist of GF Securities. The city of Beijing sets a 2022 target of “more than 5%”, the lowest among 30 provinces that have released targets, the newspaper said.
• China Evergrande Group on Monday asked for more time from its overseas creditors to work on a "comprehensive, detailed and effective" debt restructuring plan, according to a statement on the company's website. The company called on bondholders to refrain from taking any “radical legal actions” that may affect its current hard-won stability. The company will communicate with its creditors after further studies and evaluation, citing the complexity due to the group's large size, its many businesses and stakeholders involved, the statement said.