More women deputies needed

A leading member of the influential advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said the number of women deputies in the NPC has stagnated for decades and women need greater representation, says an article in the Irish Times. Excerpts:

Zhang Liming, an official at the All China Women's Federation and a member of the CPPCC, told the media that the proportion of female NPC deputies has remained constant at about 21 percent over the past three decades.

The figure is comparatively low in international terms, short of the European Union average of about a quarter. However, it is considerably higher than Ireland, where only 15 percent of the members of the Dil are women.

Li Zhiyong, vice-head of the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, told a conference panel discussion that he would actively encourage central authorities to increase the ratio of women in the legislature and political advisory bodies.

Better use of currency reserves

China will manage its $3.2 trillion of foreign currency reserves more creatively to ensure "effective" results, the central bank said during its annual news conference on March 12. And it vowed to work harder to free the country's tightly controlled financial markets, says an article on reuters.com. Excerpts:

In a wide-ranging statement highlighting its goals for 2012, the People's Bank of China promised to reduce State control over China's interest rates and currency markets to allow market forces to have a bigger play.

"Continued efforts will be made to manage China's reserve assets with new ideas and in a more effective manner, and steady progress will be made to promote capital account convertibility," the statement said. "The People's Bank will steadily advance reforms for market-based interest rates and renminbi exchange rate."

Beijing wants the renminbi, to be basically convertible by 2015 when it will trade with fewer government restrictions, in the hope that it can lay the groundwork for China's ambitions to be a global financial center by 2020.

China de-pegged the renminbi from the dollar in a landmark move in July 2005 and it has since appreciated some 30 percent against the US Currency. China owns the world's biggest foreign exchange reserves and is struggling to properly manage this mountain of cash to generate adequate returns.

Policy tools listed by the central bank included interest rates, open market operations and the reserve requirement ratio for banks.

Many investors expect Beijing to further relax policy by lowering the reserve requirement ratio of banks as the world's No 2 economy cools and price pressures wane.

Expectations of a policy response from Beijing were reinforced on Friday by the first major flurry of hard economic data of the year, which revealed an easing in the pace of industrial output, inflation, fixed asset investment and retail sales.

Loan growth data cemented the view that monetary policy would be relaxed further to support demand for credit and ensure policymakers achieve their desired outcome of an economy slowing sufficiently to stop speculative investment, while creating enough jobs to maintain social stability.

(China Daily 03/13/2012 page10)