MNI China Press Digest: Wednesday, Nov. 22

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

Wednesday, Nov. 22:

     The yuan is expected to maintain short-term stability, the China Securities

Journal reported Wednesday. The U.S. dollar could fall slightly due to concerns

that American tax overhaul legislation may not be passed this year, but because

economic fundamentals are strong in the U.S., the dollar is unlikely to decline

much. On the other hand, analysts said, the yuan will be buoyed by China's

strong fundamentals and stability-encouraging policies. The dollar index and

yields of U.S. Treasuries are expected to experience small-scale fluctuations

due to uncertainties about the tax overhaul. Although the CFETS yuan exchange

rate index has dropped for two weeks, it is still within a recent average, so

there are no signals of depreciation. As long as the dollar index fluctuates

within a tight range, the CFETS index will also tend to keep within that range,

the newspaper said. (China Securities Journal) 

     State-owned enterprises' revenue grew 15.4% in the first 10 months of this

year, compared with the same period last year, to CNY42 trillion, the Ministry

of Finance reported Wednesday. Profit rose 24.6% year-on-year to CNY2.4

trillion. As of the end of October, SOE assets were worth CNY150.6 trillion, up

10.8% from last year, but liabilities grew at a similar pace, 10.6%, landing at

CNY99.2 trillion. SOEs saw large increases in profit in the nonferrous metal,

steel, coal and petroleum sectors, while profit had a relatively big drop in the

electricity sector.

     The Ministry of Land and Resources is leading a nationwide examination of

the sale of residential land to property developers, the Economic Information

Daily reported Wednesday. Provincial regulators are required to submit summary

reports by the end of this month. The campaign aims to clamp down on the illegal

stockpiling of residential land and delays in paying for the land or related

taxes. The examination covers 70 medium to large cities and the hotspot city

Suzhou, as well as some cities that experienced rapid growth of land and housing

prices, such as Haikou and Sanya in Hainan Province. The examination is looking

at whether a property developer has begun construction on time as indicated in

its contract, the stage of the project and the developer's payment for the land.

An unidentified person working in the property sector told the newspaper that

the punishment for violating the law with such projects is not strict enough.

(Economic Information Daily)

     As the Chinese government clamps down on rampant growth and illegal

practices in the payday loan business, financial institutions have begun to

sever their ties with payday loan companies, the Securities Times reported

Wednesday. On Tuesday, Sesame Credit, an online credit scoring provider that is

part of the Alibaba-affiliated Ant Financial, announced it would stop working

with some payday loan companies because their interest rates were above the

maximum rate set by the government, they used illegal methods to collect money

from borrowers and they failed to follow their contracts. Given the tighter

regulation, payday loan transactions are expected to drop in November and

December, in contrast with rapid growth of 372% in October compared with the

same month last year, to CNY12 billion. (Securities Times)

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: iris.ouyang@marketnews.com

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: rich.dirks@marketnews.com

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