MNI China Press Digest, September 28: Xi, RRR Cut, GDP Growth

By Iris Ouyang

     BEIJING (MNI) - The following are highlights from the Chinese press for

Friday:

     It is wrong and one-sided to claim state-owned enterprises should be

abandoned or shrunk, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday, according to

the official Xinhua News Agency. China should continue to strengthen its SOEs

and increase their size, Xi stressed, during his visit to a sub-company of

PetroChina Company Limited in Liaoning Province. China's fundamental economic

system, with public-owned companies at its core and multiple ownerships

developing together, cannot be shaken, Xi said. Any thoughts and comments that

cast doubt on SOEs are bad, Xi said. The Communist Party should continue to lead

the management of SOEs, and SOEs should continue to establish a modern company

system, Xi stressed, according to Xinhua.

     The PBOC is likely to issue targeted RRR cut policies to support

technological development and entrepreneurship, Securities Daily reported. The

PBOC could announce the policy sometime after the country's week-long National

Day Holiday, in its aim to stabilise domestic demand and facilitate the

transmission of monetary policy to the real economy, said Zhou Chenghua, a

fixed-income researcher at Citic Securities. The central government, earlier

this week, announced that it would upgrade its policy support for the technology

sector and for entrepreneurs, and specifically mentioned using targeted RRR cuts

as a tool.

     The fact that China is facing pressures from an economic slowdown does not

mean China's economy will collapse, as the country remains resilient, the

official People's Daily said, citing officials and government researchers.

China's economic resilience lies in its fast consumption growth, which will

continue to support its economic growth, said Niu Li, deputy director of the

economic forecasting department at the State Information Center. Stable

investment growth buoyed by recent new policies and China's efforts to diversify

its export markets will also help the economy remain resilient, Niu said,

according to the newspaper. Despite both domestic and external challenges,

especially amid trade friction with the U.S., various factors will help China

reach this year's GDP target, said Xu Wei, researcher at the macro-economy

research department at Development Research Center of the State Council.

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86-10-8532-5998; email: beijing@marketnews.com

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