MNI China Press Digest Apr 22: PBOC Easing, Yuan Use, Services

MNI (BEIJING) - Highlights from Chinese press reports on Tuesday:

• The People’s Bank of China will likely cut the reserve requirement ratio or the interest rate in Q2, taking into account the changing external environment and domestic housing market and price trends, said Wang Qing, analyst with Golden Credit Rating. The policy interest rate could see a 30 basis point reduction to lower the financing costs of the real economy significantly. However, Ming Ming, chief economist of CITIC Securities believes, given the stock market recovery and depreciation pressure on the yuan, the PBOC will focus on expectation management in the near term and retain policy room to deal with further uncertainty.
• The PBOC will make cross-border use of yuan more convenient and improve the efficiency of payment and collection, especially for companies going overseas, according to an action plan jointly released by financial regulators and the Shanghai municipal government on Monday. The PBOC will also encourage commercial banks in Shanghai to expand cross-border credit expansion to lower companies' yuan financing costs and promote yuan-dominated imports and exports, the statement said.
• China unveiled a new initiative aimed at expanding pilot programs to open the country's service sector further, which includes 155 pilot tasks with a strong focus on telecommunications, healthcare and finance, Yicai.com reported. The initiative also added nine more pilot cities, including Dalian and Ningbo on top of the initial 11 regions, the newspaper said.