China leverages monetary policies to secure sound development

File photo shows an exterior view of the People's Bank of China in Beijing, capital of China. [Xinhua/Peng Ziyang]

BEIJING -- China's central bank will implement the country's prudent monetary policy in a targeted and effective way to create a suitable monetary and financial environment for the country's high-quality economic development.

In the next stage, measures will be taken to keep the total supply of money and credit at an appropriate amount, maintain the pace of growth steady, and consolidate the achievements of having lowered real lending rates, Yi Gang, governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), told a press conference on Friday.

Meanwhile, the central bank will give appropriate play to structural monetary policy tools and continue to provide strong support for fields such as inclusive, micro and small businesses, green finance, and scientific and technological innovation, Yi said.

The PBOC will coordinate economic growth and price stability, and make appropriate adjustments to monetary policy tools based on the changes and needs of economic development, PBOC Deputy Governor Liu Guoqiang said at the press conference.

Liu noted that the PBOC will continue to maintain a prudent monetary policy, doubling down on efforts to expand domestic demand and supporting the real economy while refraining from flood-like stimulus.

Efforts will also be made to continuously promote renminbi (RMB) internationalization in an orderly manner in the future, said Pan Gongsheng, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

To achieve this goal, Pan called for the system of transactions and settlements in cross-border RMB investment and financing to be improved, for the network of settlement banks to be expanded, and for further opening-up of and broader access to China's foreign exchange and financial markets.

In recent years, China has taken a slew of effective measures to fend off and defuse financial risks, safeguarding the bottom line of preventing systemic risks, Yi said. "Financial risks have been contained overall."

For example, the country has formed a financial-risk disposal mechanism headed by major local Party and government officials, and established provincial-level committees to defuse financial risks.

In the next step, the country will move to ensure responsibilities in the prevention and disposal of financial risks are fulfilled by all parties concerned, push for the enactment of the law on financial stability, and place all types of financial activities under regulation according to laws, Yi said.

The PBOC has also been seeking policy synergy on both supply and demand sides to promote the smooth operation of the property market.

The implementation of a long-term mechanism for the real estate sector has arrested the momentum of rapid industrial expansion, excessive price increases and housing bubbles, Pan said, adding that market confidence has been boosted and the sector's financing environment has been improved.

Data from the central bank shows that new loans to property developers exceeded 370 billion yuan (about 53.53 billion U.S. dollars) in January, rising 220 billion yuan year on year, while property bonds issued in the domestic market totaled 40 billion yuan, an increase of 23 percent from the same period last year.

Pan said that more efforts will be made to satisfy rigid housing demand and the demand for housing improvements as well as the needs of new urban residents, support the development of a property market that encourages both rental housing and house purchases, improve the basic system for real estate finance and the macro-prudential regulation system, and facilitate the sector's smooth transition to a new development model.