MNI China Press Digest May 19: Pro-growth, PBOC, Consumption

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Thursday:

• Chinese Premier Li Keqiang urged all departments and local governments to increase a sense of urgency and carry out as many new pro-growth measures as possible to bring the economy back to normal track quickly, CCTV News reported citing a meeting hosted by Li on Wednesday. Prices are currently stable, leaving policy room, said Li. China will give priority to safeguarding employment, guiding financial institutions to defer interest payment on loans to small businesses and ensuring stable food production and energy supplies, according to Li.
• A senior Chinese monetary policymaker, Sun Guofeng, former director of the Monetary Policy Department of the People's Bank of China, is under investigation of “suspected serious violation of laws and discipline”, Quanshang China, a social media outlet of Securities Times reported citing the party’s anti-graft watchdog. Zou Lan, currently head of the financial market in PBOC will take up the post, the newspaper said. Beijing’s disciplinary crackdown on the financial sector has accelerated, with many upper-level officials being taken down, including Mou Shangang, former director of the central bank's service center, and Yang Xiaoping, former head of the PBOC’s Kunming branch, the newspaper said.
• China should issue more consumer coupons to help change consumers’ cautious attitudes on spending, the 21st Century Business Herald reported citing analysts after April retail sales fell 11.1% y/y to hit two-year low. Local governments should take an active role in coupon design and tilt toward lower-income groups. In Guangxi, an autonomous region in southern China, consumer coupons issued from April 30 to May 1 had driven sales with a leverage ratio of 1:13.5, the newspaper said. Analysts also noted that imported pressures may restrain household consumption if international food and energy prices continue to rise or remain high, the newspaper said.