MNI China Press Digest May 23: Pension, NFRA, Macro-leverage

Highlights from Chinese press reports on Tuesday:

• China will raise its basic pension by 3.8% above 2022 levels, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Finance. Retirees will benefit from the new pension amount being backdated to January 1, 2023. According to China Daily, the measure comes after the State Council this week issued a proposal for increasing elderly care support. Policy makers proposed broadening the coverage of the basic pension, more support for nursing, and further subsidies for elderly care infrastructure. (Source: China Daily)
• China’s newly opened National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) will focus on deepening financial reforms, defusing risks and serving the real economy. At a recent meeting, the NFRA said the insurance industry had performed better than expected, with premium income up 9.2% y/y. However, insurance companies' solvency ratios continued to decline but at a slower rate. Going forwards, the regulator said it would strengthen solvency supervision and enhance data protection in the insurance industry. (Source: Securities Daily)
• China’s macro leverage will rise by 8pp in the next few years if economic growth trends near 4.5% and inflation at 2%, according to Zhang Xiaojing, director at the Institute of Finance and Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the director of the National Finance and Development Laboratory. Zhang noted economic growth would benefit if the People’s Bank of China took a larger proportion of national debt onto its balance sheet, which would allow authorities to expand fiscal spending beyond the 3% public deficit limit, and give a strong impetus for economic recovery by stimulating private investment and market forces. (Source: Yicai)