People's Bank of China counsellor.......>

CHINA PRESS: People's Bank of China counsellor Sheng Songcheng told the 21st

Century Business Herald that the Chinese financial sector's ability to serve the

real economy is improving, the newspaper reported Tuesday. Sheng said that while

the M2 growth rate had dropped below 10%, the growth of total social financing

has remained at a relatively high level, showing the financial sector's support

for the real economy has not weakened. In response to the Herald's question on

whether President Xi Jinping's keynote speech indicated China would continue the

internationalization the yuan, Sheng said China's long-term goal of yuan

internationalization is not reversible. He also stressed the need to coordinate

all types of reform, echoing PBOC governor Zhou Xiaochuan's call at a press

conference during the Party Congress last week. Sheng said the reforms of

interest rates, the exchange rate formation mechanism, the further opening of

the capital account, the opening of China's bond market, and wider access to its

financial market should be coordinated. (21st Century Business Herald)