MNI China Press Digest July 07: BRI, PBOC, Demand

Highlights from Chinese press reports on Wednesday:

• China’s Belt and Road Initiative will focus on ecological and environmental protection for its next phase of development, according to Liang Linchong, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Speaking at the Summer Davos Forum, Liang said the BRI would continue promoting hard infrastructure projects such as the development level of China-Europe Railway Express, and also expand soft connectivity projects such as harmonising rules and standards and cooperation on financing, trade, energy, digital information. (Source: Xinhua).
• China named Pan Gongsheng, deputy governor at the People’s Bank of China, as the central bank’s new Communist Party chief on Saturday. Pan, with over 30 years of banking and regulatory experience, has been the PBOC Deputy Governor since 2012 and has also served as head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange since 2016. Pan was one of the main officials in charge of shareholding reform and listing of two major state-owned banks, and helped push forward reform of the yuan exchange rate formation mechanism and the inclusion of CNY in the SDR currency basket. (Source: The Beijing News)
• China should further strengthen pro-growth policies to limit demand contraction. Insufficient confidence weakens policy effects and it is necessary to support private investment with further tax and fee reductions for small businesses to help them recover from the pandemic, said Su Jian, director at the National Center for Economic Research of Peking University. Private fixed-asset investment fell 0.1% y/y in the first five months. (Source: Yicai)