MNI China Press Digest July 28: PBOC, Real Estate, Opening Up

Highlights from Chinese press reports on Friday:

• Policymakers will promote greater lending to science and innovation enterprises, according to Zhang Qingsong, deputy governor at the People’s Bank of China. Speaking at a State Council policy briefing, Zhang said the PBOC will encourage science and innovation firms to make use of international capital markets and ensure the high risk sector can obtain finance guarantees and insurance products which firms typically find difficult to access. Authorities will guide finance institutions to provide more credit for M&A activities and refinancing. (Source: Yicai)
• Local governments should further implement policies to support housing demand, such as reducing the down-payment ratio and loan interest rate for the purchase of first homes, tax relief for housing replacement, as well as relaxing loan restrictions, said the Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ni Hong in a recent meeting with property developers and builders. Ni called for homebuyers who have a mortgage history, but do not own property to be considered as first-time buyers. The ministry said the construction and real-estate industry represent two pillars of the economy and key to the economic recovery. (Source: Xinhua)
• China should promote reforms that deepen opening to the outside world, according to Premier Li Qiang. On a recent tour of free trade zones in Shanghai, Li said China had benefited from partnerships with foreign companies and the government should take measures to attract foreign firms. Li acknowledged cross-border data flows remained a concern to all parties and called on relevant authorities to build a new cross-border data management system. On FTZs, the Premier instructed local officials to focus on meeting international trade rules and promoting institutional opening up. (Source: Yicai)