MNI China Press Digest June 21:Lower LPR, Evergrande, Property

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Tuesday:

• China’s financial regulators are likely to guide down banks’ capital costs to drive down their Loan Prime Rate quotations in H2, thereby reducing the loan interest rates for enterprises and residents, the 21st Century Business Herald reported citing analysts. LPR, based on the rate of PBOC’s Medium-term Lending Facility and quotations submitted by 18 banks, remains at 3.70% for the one-year maturity and 4.45% for five years this month. The PBOC is less likely to cut the MLF rate due to the expected significant monetary tightening by the Fed, analysts said. There is room for a 5-10 bps in one-year LPR, and a 10-15 bps cut in the five-year one, by means of deposit interest rate reform and reserve requirement ratio cuts to lower banks’ costs, the newspaper said citing Ming Ming, chief economist at CITIC Securities.
• China’s most indebted property developer, Evergrande Group, said it will announce its preliminary restructuring plan before the end of July, sticking to a deadline announced by the company on January 26, Yicai.com reported citing the company’s stock exchange filing late Monday. The independent investigation of the pledge by its property services unit is being actively carried out, so is the audit work of the group, and there are no schedule lines due for the release of its pending 2021 financial results yet, according to the statement.
• China's central city of Zhengzhou will hand out home purchase vouchers to residents displaced by its shantytown renewal programme, aiming to solve resettlement problems and promote destocking in the property market, the 21st Century Business Herald reported citing a gov document released on Monday. Voucher holders need to purchase homes from designated developers within 12 months, and the government will offer an additional reward of 8% of the resettlement compensation as well as a three-month transition fee in cash, the newspaper said. The property market in Zhengzhou is expected to get out of the trough with continuous relaxing policies to stimulate demand since March, the newspaper said.