MNI China Press Digest, March 4:Rate Cut, PBOC, Infrastructure

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

on Wednesday:

     The People's Bank of China (PBOC) should seize the moment to lower policy

interest rates as other major central banks have lowered or are preparing to

lower their rates, according to the China Securities Journal. In a commentary,

the Journal said the PBOC could possibly lower policy rates this month as

current money market rates are already lower than the policy rates.

     The PBOC is likely to increase the quotas for refinancing and rediscounting

due to the global spread of the coronavirus, according to Wang Qing, chief

macroeconomic analyst at credit rating agency Dongfang Jincheng. Wang's comments

were cited in the Economic Information Daily, which said the PBOC had released

another CNY500 billion in refinancing and rediscount quotes for small businesses

last week on the basis of an earlier CNY300 billion quota for epidemic control.

Meanwhile, total monetary easing is still needed in addition to targeted tools

supporting small businesses as the government aims to stabilize employment and

achieve its growth target, said Ming Ming, chief fixed-income analyst at CITIC

Securities, in comments also reported by the Daily.

     China's infrastructure investment projects this year will concentrate on

technology such as 5G and cloud computing rather than traditional infrastructure

around railways, roads and airports, according to Shanghai Securities News. In a

front page commentary, the newspaper said eight provinces in China have vowed to

build more than 300,000 5G stations. This technology infrastructure can

stabilize the economy and unlock potential consumption, the newspaper added.

--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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