MNI China Press Digest, June 16: LPR, Treasury Bonds, Virus

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

on Tuesday:

     China's Loan Prime Rate (LPR) is likely to stay unchanged on Saturday after

the PBOC kept the medium-term lending facility (MLF) rate unchanged yesterday,

the Shanghai Securities News reported. In leaving the MLF rate unchanged, the

central bank rolled over the matured CNY740 billion MLFs with another CNY200

billion. Citing Wang Qing, chief analyst with Golden Credit Ratings, the report

said the next MLF rate cut may start in August at the latest, and there was

still room for a 40 basis point cut in the second half of the year. 

     China's issuance of CNY1 trillion in special anti-Covid-19 treasury bonds

will begin in mid-June and will be completed by the end of July, the 21st

Century Business Herald reported. Citing an unnamed bond investor in Beijing,

the Herald said the issuance would be CNY700 billion 10-year notes, in addition

to CNY200 billion 5-year and CNY100 billion 7-year notes. Zhang Xu, chief fixed

income analyst at Everbright Securities, told the Herald the PBOC is likely to

cut the reserve requirement ratio by end-June to fill the liquidity gap caused

by the bond issuance. 

     The Beijing municipal government will rapidly conduct epidemic inspections

and sterilize agricultural product markets, restaurants and canteens, the

Beijing Daily reported. Stall owners and management personnel would also be

tested for the virus. The government emphasized that the virus test should cover

every person to have entered and exited the Xinfadi wholesale market, where a

cluster of virus infections was centered, the newspaper reported. 

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

--MNI Sydney Bureau; +61 405322399; email: lachlan.colquhoun.ext@marketnews.com

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