MNI China Press Digest Mar 5:Finance, Stock Market, Technology

Highlights from Chinese press reports on Friday:

• Authorities should promote large- and medium-sized commercial banks to establish divisions for supporting technology development, said Wei Gejun, head of Shaanxi Branch of the People's Bank of China. It is necessary to reduce costs and increase financing efficiency for tech companies by using relending and rediscount facilities. Regulators should guide banking institutions to increase their tolerance for non-performing loans appropriately. Authorities can also establish special funds and implement preferential value-added tax policies for high-tech corporate loans. (Source: 21st Century Business Herald)
• Authorities should attract more medium- and long-term funds into the stock market, as pension, insurance and annuity funds’ equity allocation is far lower than the policy upper limit due to assessment requirements, said Yang Zongru, director at Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau. Yang said it is necessary to implement the three-year long-term assessment mechanism for state-owned insurance companies promptly, and guide pension funds to sign a long-term contract of more than five years with investment managers. (Source: Securities Times)
• China should accelerate the formulation of a strategic plan to develop “new productive factors” and cope with the new round of scientific and technological revolution, said Wang Changlin, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The country’s current education system and government supervision mechanism are still not adapted to the requirements of developing “new productive factors” but a number of disruptive technologies such as generative AI, synthetic biology, controllable nuclear fusion, and commercial aerospace will have a broad and profound impact on employment, income, ethics, safety and change the competitive advantages of each country. (Source: 21st Century Business Herald)