China and the US will hold trade talks on January 7 and January 8 in Beijing, the Ministry of Commerce confirmed on Friday morning. The US delegation will be led by deputy trade representative Jeffrey Gerrish.
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The People’s Bank of China changed the definition for enterprises to be considered small and micro enterprises (SMEs) on Wednesday. Previously, enterprises with bank credit lines of less than Rmb5m ($0.7m) were considered SMEs. The cut-off was raised to Rmb10m. The change should make it easier for smaller businesses to obtain loans from banks.
PBoC has allowed those commercial banks that lend as much as 1.5% of their credit portfolios to SMEs to enjoy a 0.5 percentage-point reduction in their reserve requirement ratio.
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Nafmii hired Liu Wei as the Communist Party chief of Nafmii, local media reported on December 28. Previously, Liu worked for the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) and the People’s Bank of China.
Nafmii’s former party head, Xie Duo, joined Silk Road Fund in mid-December.
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China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) granted the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) status to a hybrid fund managed by Taida Hongli Fund Management on December 29.
The open-ended fund will have the Bank of China as its custodian. The QDII scheme allows onshore investors to build exposure to overseas securities.
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The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) has agreed on December 29 to allow local governments to issue up to Rmb1.39tn worth of bonds, including Rmb580bn of general bonds and Rmb810bn of special-purpose ones. The total amount is 64% of the 2018 yearly quota, local media reported.
In the same meeting, NPC also authorised the state council to pre-issue no more than 60% of previous year’s quota at the beginning of each year. The authorisation will be valid until 2022. As a result, local governments will not need to wait until March, when NPC meets and officially approves the annual quota, to start bond issuance.