MNI China Press Digest, July 29: Fiscal, PBOC, GDP

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Wednesday:

China's fiscal expenditure will rise in H2 as revenues increase, helping speed up infrastructure construction and investment and further assisting recovery in the manufacturing sector and among SMEs, the China Securities Journal reported citing analysts. Spending in H1 fell 5.8% y/y, below the growth target of 3.8% for this year set by the government, leaving space for more proactive fiscal policies in H2, the newspaper said citing Zhu Jianfang, chief economist of CITIC Securities. New local government special bonds and special Treasury bonds issued in Q2 and Q3 will be used mainly in H2, the newspaper said citing Wang Qing, chief macro analyst at Golden Credit Rating.

The PBOC is studying the scale of online consumer loans jointly issued by banks and fintech companies such as Ant Financial, seeking to gauge current balances, average interest rates and non-performing rates so it can formulate corresponding measures, the Beijing Business Today reported. A total of 24 banks received requests from the PBOC's Survey and Statistics Department yesterday to report their co-lending with Ant Financial, the newspaper said. China's joint-lending market has reached about CNY2 trillion, involving hundreds of banks, and Ant Financial has more than half of the market, the newspaper said.

China's growth rate this year will be over 3% with ample room for further fiscal support if necessary, the 21st Century Business Herald reported. Citing Lin Yifu, the Dean of the National School of Development at Peking University, the Herald's report said total debt raised by the central and local governments, including implicit debts, accounts for less than 60% of GDP, while the ratios of most developed countries exceed 100%.