MNI China Press Digest Apr 11: Rate Cut, Covid, Unified Market

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Monday:

• China has room to cut both banks’ reserve requirement ratios and interest rates in order to reduce financing costs of the real economy, said Guan Tao, the chief economist at BOC International, the Securities Times reported. Monetary policies must be accurate and targeted, Guan said. The economy could see a significant rebound in Q2 with the easing of pandemic measures and more investments, Guan said. China’s inflation could face some imported pressure as well as internal supply chain snags, so keeping inflation stable is also a major target, Guan said. China could use active fiscal policies to increase government investment leverage and improve private investment and consumption, said Guan.
• China must stick to “zero covid” policies to prevent a large-scale return of the pandemic, the official People’s Daily said in a commentary. Giving up in the face of the pandemic means surrendering and placing everyone’s life and safety at extreme risks, it said. While some have said the pandemic has destroyed lives and loosening up is acceptable given the Omicron’s less severe case, these thoughts are wrong and must be corrected, the newspaper said.
• China on Sunday unveiled guidelines for accelerating the building of a unified national market that is highly efficient, rule-based, fair for competition, and open, Xinhua News Agency reported. It includes the accelerated development of a unified capital market, including an improved supervision system with clear rights and responsibilities, and setting up "dos and don’ts" to prevent the disorderly expansion of capital. The guideline also calls for promoting a free-flow bond market infrastructure, Xinhua reported.