MNI China Press Digest Nov 21:Finance, Rate Cut, Currency Swap

Highlights from Chinese press reports on Tuesday:

• China’s Premier Li Qiang has become director of the Central Financial Commission and chaired a recent meeting, according to a China Daily report. Officials said the commission will maintain stable monetary policy, increase support for weak links and focus on financing for new and green technology. Additionally China will strengthen financial supervision and tighten financial risk reduction responsibilities. Vice Premier He Lifeng attended the meeting also.
• Analysts hold different views about further interest rate cuts after the benchmark Loan Prime Rate was kept unchanged on Monday, Yicai.com reported. Wang Qing, analyst at Golden Credit Rating believes there is still room for a 0.3 to 0.4 percentage point decline in 5-year LPR, which will lead to a greater reduction in newly issued housing mortgage rates and help reverse expectation of the property market. While Wen Bin, chief economist of China Minsheng Bank said policy rates and LPR will likely hold steady during the year under the consideration of stabilizing the exchange rate and interest spreads, noting that revitalising financial resources and improving the efficiency of capital use will be the key in the next stage.
• The People’s Bank of China and the Saudi Central Bank have signed a bilateral local currency swap agreement worth CNY50 billion or 26 billion Saudi riyals, according to a statement on the PBOC website. This will help strengthen financial cooperation, expand the use of local currencies and promote trade and investment facilitation between the two countries. The agreement is valid for three years and both parties can consent to extended it, the statement said.