China to maintain prudent monetary policy

China will continue a prudent monetary policy while ensuring credit growth for the real economy, agricultural sector and small enterprises, according to a statement issued after a State Council meeting Wednesday. Participants at the meeting, chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, planned a set of measures designed to increase the financial sector's support to the country's economic restructuring. During the meeting, the participants noted that the economy is generally stable at present, but is also faced with some difficulties and challenges. While maintaining the stability and continuity of China's macro-economic policy, efforts should be made to promote reform in a step-by-step, orderly and non-stop manner, according to the statement. China will stick to its prudent monetary policy and bring it into play, keeping monetary supply at a reasonable scale and carrying forward the reform of interest rate liberalization, said the statement. Greater credit support will be directed to sectors including advanced manufacturing, strategic emerging industries, labor-intensive industries and the service industry, as well as into the upgrading of traditional industries, it said. Credit support will lean toward the agricultural sector and small and micro-sized enterprises, it said. The country will support Chinese enterprises' "going abroad." It will innovate the way of using foreign exchange reserves, promote export credit insurance and advance the pilot program of overseas direct investment by individuals, according to the statement. To help upgrade consumption structure, financial services will be innovated to support credit demand for purchasing first homes and large consumer durable goods, as well as for educational and tourist purposes, said the statement. The nation will speed up the development of a multi-faceted capital market and expand bond issuance, said the statement. Efforts will be made to invite private capital to participate in restructuring financial institutions and to explore the establishment of privately-owned banks, financial leasing companies and consumer finance firms, it said. China will tightly guard against risks, improving the credit system and the effectiveness of supervision and holding onto the bottom line for preventing systemic and regional financial risks, it said. Participants at the meeting also asked local governments at all levels and all departments to ramp up efforts to transform government functions. Streamlining administration and delegating power to lower levels must be carried out together with the strengthening of supervision, said the statement.