Monetary policy

THE government will keep monetary policy prudent, flexible and appropriate and continue to deepen financial reforms, the central bank said yesterday, reiterating previous policy statements.

After a work meeting chaired by People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Yi Gang, the central bank also vowed to prevent any financial crisis and said it would continue to help small companies seeking financing, according to a statement posted on PBOC’s website. It also said it will continue to let market play a decisive role in the currency exchange rate, but would keep the yuan exchange rate stable within a reasonable range.

Interest rate options

TRIAL trading in interest rate options will start from Feb. 24, China’s foreign exchange trading platform has said.

The platform, the National Interbank Funding Center, is overseen by the central bank. It said the aim of the pilot was to enable the interbank interest rate derivative market to play a better role in supporting the real economy, meet investors’ interest rate risk management demands and improve interest rate pricing mechanisms, according to a statement on its website.

Quanzhou complex

CHINA Sinochem Group is expected to start up a new crude processing unit and a petrochemical complex in southeastern China around mid-2020, marking the State firm’s first foray into making petrochemicals, three company sources said.

The oil and chemicals group is adding 60,000 barrels per day of crude processing capacity at an existing 240,000-bpd refinery in Quanzhou, Fujian Province. The Quanzhou refinery additions will come on top of some 900,000 bpd of refining capacity added during 2019 in China, nearly 8 percent of national total refinery throughput, that swelled China’s fuel glut and spurred record product exports.