MNI China Press Digest April 2: Loans, Higher Spending, Steel

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Friday:

• New credit and lending by Chinese banks this year will be close to that of 2020 given the government's emphasis on a stable monetary policy, the Economic Information Daily said citing Wang Yifeng, chief analyst of finance industry at Everbright Securities. New RMB loans in 2020 was CNY19.63 trillion, CNY2.82 trillion higher than 2019, MNI noted. Supporting SMEs will remain the priority of banks this year and growth of loans to real estate sector will drop significantly, the newspaper said citing Zeng Gang, the director of Shanghai Institute for Financial and Development.
• Chinese spending on travel and leisure is set to surge in the three-day Tomb Sweeping holiday starting April 3 with 100 million people forecast to travel, a level seen before last year's pandemic, the Shanghai Securities News said citing analyst Fang Zexi at CTrip. There has been a 25% rise in ticket bookingsfor the three holidays from last year, Fang was cited saying.
• China seeks to reduce crude steel output and overcapacity this year through nationwide inspections on production in an effort to promote industry upgrade, according to China National Development and Reform Commission. China will review the implementation of overcapacity campaign started since 2016, maintain supply-side structural reform policies, raise overall environmental and energy performance to help meet the efficiency goals, the NDRC said.