MNI China Press Digest June 29: PBOC,Reform,Foreign Investment

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

Friday:

     The People's Bank of China (PBOC) will maintain its neutral and prudent

monetary policy, keeping liquidity at a reasonable and sufficient level, said a

statement from the PBOC's monetary policy committee, reported by Financial News,

a newspaper of the PBOC. The PBOC promises to closely monitor both domestic and

international economic trends, enhance its forecasting capability and fine-tune

its policies, noted the newspaper. Domestic demand is becoming the main driving

force of China's economy, while the country's dependence on foreign trade has

significantly weakened, said the newspaper. China will use multiple monetary

policy tools to control the pace and intensity of structured deleveraging.

     Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for deepening administrative reform,

optimization of government service and greater government efficiency to bolster

China's economy, reported by People's Daily. Local governments should decrease

direct allocation of resources and intervention in market activities as much as

possible, Li stressed. China will significantly cut the time for opening an

enterprise, obtaining construction project approval and customs clearance within

five years to boost the vitality of market, Li added.

     China will remove restrictions on foreign investment in 22 sectors,

especially in the service sector, infrastructure and automobile manufacturing,

starting from July 28, 2018, according to a joint statement of ministry of

commerce (MOFCOM) and National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC),

reported by Shanghai Securities. All restrictions on foreign equity limits in

the financial sector will be removed by 2021, noted the newspaper. China will

also widen market access to agricultural products and energy resources. These

major opening-up measures will attract more foreign investment, promote

competition and inject vitality to the market, said an anonymous manager of

NDRC, according to the newspaper.

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

--MNI Singapore Bureau; +65 8233 2326; email: Asia-Editor@marketnews.com

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