MNI China Press Digest July 11: Credit, Pro-Growth, Covid Risk

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Monday:

• The scale of new yuan loans and aggregate finance in June may be higher than the levels of May and a year earlier as financing demand improved with the economy recovering, the China Securities Journal reported on the front page on Monday. June new loans may exceed May’s CNY1.89 trillion and last June’s CNY2.12 trillion, as June is traditionally a big month for new loans. A pickup in home sales in 30 major cities and auto consumption would help drive certain credit demand, the newspaper said citing analysts. Aggregate finance may be significantly higher than May’s CNY2.79 trillion and last June’s CNY3.67 trillion mainly due to the accelerated issuance of local government bonds, the Journal said citing analysts. M2 would maintain rapid double-digit growth in June, the newspaper said. China is set to release its June financial data this week.
• Local governments should efficiently coordinate pandemic controls and economic and social development, and implement pro-growth policies to consolidate the economic recovery, said Premier Li Keqiang during his visit to Fujian province, Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday. It is necessary to ensure the smooth flow of logistics in ports, avoid the backlog of goods, in order to reduce the cost of enterprises, said Li, adding that 70% of the country’s industrial output cannot be separated from imports.
• Shanghai reported its first case of the new BA.5 sub-variant of Omicron on Sunday, after the highly infectious sub-variant was found in Xi'an and Beijing city last week, the 21st Century Business Herald reported citing the Shanghai’s health commission. The city added one high-risk area and 38 medium-risk areas on Sunday after more than 200 local positive cases were reported from July 3-9, the newspaper said. Another mega-city, Guangzhou, quickly carried out massive nucleic acid testing in five districts on Sunday, while Lanzhou, the largest city of Gansu province in Northwest China ordered one-week temporary control measures in four districts including home office and suspending offline entertainment and dine-in services starting Monday, the newspaper said.