MNI China Press Digest Oct 31: Yuan, Growth, Platform Economy

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Monday:

• The People’s Bank of China should focus on reviving the economy to support the yuan rather than simply intervening or using its counter-cyclical factor unless speculative factors are driving the market, the Securities Times reported, citing Zhang Bin, deputy director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. China should use proactive fiscal and monetary policies to support the economy, as interest rate cuts would not counter efforts to stabilise the yuan, Zhang was cited as saying. It is also necessary to further improve the level of opening up to strengthen investor confidence, the newspaper said.
• China should increase counter-cyclical policies and cross-cyclical polices - which link short and long-term growth - through the rest of this year and into next year to consolidate the momentum of economic recovery, wrote Guan Tao, a former foreign exchange official and now chief economist of BOC International in an article published by Yicai.com. China should strengthen prudent monetary policy, which not only includes cuts to reserve requirement ratio and interest rates, but further streamlining of the policy transmission mechanism to promote lower financing costs for the real economy, as well as the use of structural tools to strengthen support for industries affected by the epidemic, said Guan.
• China should introduce a number of targeted policies to support the development of the platform economy and innovative enterprises, as the platform economy requires new measures to revive growth after the government's recent round of reforms, Yicai.com reported citing analysts. Platform companies are an important driver of economic recovery as online transactions proved to be less affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, and they could deliver growth amid a possible global recession, the newspaper said citing analysts. It is necessary to increase fiscal and taxation support, and promote the integration of the platform economy with the development of smart cities and industrial Internet, the newspaper said.