MNI China Press Digest April 25: Beijing Covid, Yuan, Growth

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Monday:

• Beijing is on high alert for a new Covid-19 outbreak after recording 41 new cases in the past three days with cases detected in five districts, the China News Service reported on Sunday citing Pang Xinghua, deputy director of Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Health officials said on the weekend that the epidemic may have been spreading unnoticed for a week, with those infected found among a school, a tour group, and multiple families, while more cases are expected to be detected as mass testing gets underway, according to the newspaper.
• The yuan will regain support with foreign capital returning should China successfully contain the epidemic and implement more precise and effective ways to manage the outbreak and introduces pro-growth policies soon to restore market confidence, wrote Guan Tao, former forex official and chief economist at BOC Securities in an article published on Yicai.com. The recent depreciation of the yuan was due to a correction amid the spillover risk of Russia-Ukraine conflicts, greater regulatory oversight of China's U.S.-listed overseas companies and a sharp rebound of local Covid-19 cases, said Guan. Guan dismissed the speculation that the central bank has intervened by setting the central parity weaker. The recent weakening of the yuan will help release some pressure to depreciate as the U.S. Federal Reserve tightens its policies, Guan said.
• China should take more vigorous macro policies to hedge the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic and keep economic growth in Q2 above 5% to ensure the 5.5% growth target for this year can be achieved, Cls.cn reported citing Wang Yiming, member of the People’s Bank of China’s Monetary Policy Committee. Authorities should quickly control the epidemic by early May, Wang said. The priorities are to actively expand domestic demand, boost consumption, as well as safeguard the supply chain to stabilize market expectations, Wang was cited as saying.