MNI China Press Digest Mar 23:Mortage Rates, 6% Growth, Russia

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Tuesday:

• China's five-year Loan Prime Rate, a benchmark for residential mortgages, may rise this year if the property market continues to heat up, the Shanghai Securities News said citing Wang Qing, chief macro analyst of Golden Credit Rating. The one-year LPR for corporate loans is likely to remain stable with an interest rate of 3.85%, Wang said. The PBOC is likely keeping a cap on lenders' LPR quotes after having recently tightened banks' deposit rates and reduced competition for deposits, the newspaper said. On Monday, the central bank for the 11th month kept its published benchmark 1Y and 5Y LPRs, which are decided based on quotes submitted by lenders.
• China is likely to beat the "above 6%" government-set growth target this year, but it will seek to curb energy consumption and pollution, Premier Li Keqiang said in a speech to the China Development Forum on Monday night. China must balance growth, income and employment, and strive to create 11 million new jobs this year, Li said. China must also urge urbanization to expand domestic demand and let consumption be a bigger growth driver, Li said.
• China and Russia won't form a western-style alliance or bloc as they did during the Cold War despite closer partnerships in the face of increasing sanctions from the U.S. and its western allies, the Global Times said in an editorial on Tuesday as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits China. However, observing the non-interference principle, the two nations will be determined to co-operate in all spheres possible, and take care of each other's core interests wherever and whenever it is necessary to do so, the newspaper said.