MNI China Press Digest July 10: Imports, SOEs, Macro Policy

     BEIJING (MNI) - The following lists highlights from the Chinese press for

Tuesday:

     The state council, along with other ministries, has published a policy

package that will increase imports to promote foreign trade balance, reported

Economic Information Daily. The package aims to satisfy rising consumption

demands and to upgrade industrial structure, said the Daily. China will support

imports of consumer products, medicines and nursing facilities to upgrade

consumption, said the Daily, and Belt & Road countries will be key sources of

imports. China will accelerate building trade free zones and enhancing the

liberalization and efficiency of foreign trade, the Daily added.

     State-owned enterprises should stick to supply-side structural reform and

improving their investment structure to deleverage, said Xiao Yaqing, director

of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC),

according to China Securities Daily. The average asset-liability ratio of

state-owned enterprises was 66.0% as of May, down 0.4% year over year, according

to the Daily. Xiao urged state-owned enterprises to implement debt-to-equity

swap programmes and mixed ownership reform to lower debts, said the Daily.

     The fine-tuning of monetary policy tools should not be read as a policy

reversal, said 21st Century Business Herald in a commentary. Monetary policies

are not enough to address structural issues, said the newspaper. Instead, the

PBOC should construct a more comprehensive structural policy regime and use

targeted policies to regulate the flow of capital, said the commentary. China

should strengthen its support to small and micro firms, initiate more active

fiscal policies and better regulate state-owned enterprises, the commentary

added.

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: sherry.qin@marketnews.com

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86-10-8532-5998; email: beijing@marketnews.com

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