MNI China Press Digest, June 17: Coronavirus, PBOC, Land

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

on Wednesday:

     The Beijing municipal government has raised its coronavirus alert level to

Level 2 from Level 3 after reporting 106 new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases

in the past five days, the 21st Century Business Herald reported. Kindergartens

and schools in Beijing will be closed from Wednesday and the capital will

restore closed-off management in communities, the newspaper said. All residents

living in communities deemed medium or high risk, as well as people connected to

the Xinfadi wholesale food market where a cluster of virus infections was

centred, are banned from leaving the city. There is currently one high-risk area

and 27 medium-risk areas in the city, the Herald reported. 

     The PBOC is likely to cut the reserve requirement ratio at the end of June

or in early July to provide long-term funds to ease the liquidity gap due to the

maturity of medium-term lending facilities (MLFs) this month, the Economic

Information Daily said in a commentary. The PBOC may consider cutting interest

rates again after inter-bank interest rates return to a desired level,

structured deposits reduce and the arbitrage of funds ease, the newspaper said.

There is room for cuts of between 20-30 bps on the MLF rate in Q3 and Q4, and

the benchmark deposit rate may also be lowered in Q3 given the easing of

inflation and the narrowing of banks' net interest margins, the Daily said. 

     Land transactions will continue to be at a high level in June as real

estate developers approach the half-year mark and rush for high-quality land,

the Economic Information Daily reported. First and Second-tier cities have

increased land supply, particularly of high-quality land to lure developers and

accelerate the recovery in their land markets, the newspaper said. In

particular, Nanjing and Guangzhou city saw significant increases in land

transaction fees in the first five months, growing 157% and 93% y/y,

respectively. Developers' enthusiasm for land acquisition has increased again as

the financial difficulties decreased, the newspaper said citing Zhang Dawei,

chief analyst of Centaline Property Agency. 

--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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