China urges state firms to improve risk controls
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
BEIJING, March 2 (Reuters): China issued on Monday a strongly worded appeal to state-owned enterprises to better manage investment risks as the global financial crisis deepens.
State-owned firms will be required to apply a stricter set of standards when making investment decisions, Li Rongrong, head of the State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission , was cited as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.
The government has several times before called on firms to improve their risk controls, but the latest statement was particularly strident in warning firms of deepening economic challenges.
Separately, the Chinese central bank, in a statement ahead of the annual parliament meeting, said: "our country's economic and financial development will encounter more serious and complex conditions."
A Chinese business survey on Monday provided tentative evidence that a sharp downturn in the country's manufacturing sector was bottoming out, though it also showed China was not yet clear of trouble, with the economy sill in contraction and jobs being shed. [ID:nPEK205406]
SASAC instructed state-owned firms to control their debt levels and limit their investment in derivatives such as futures and options.
State-owned firms will be required to apply a stricter set of standards when making investment decisions, Li Rongrong, head of the State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission , was cited as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.
The government has several times before called on firms to improve their risk controls, but the latest statement was particularly strident in warning firms of deepening economic challenges.
Separately, the Chinese central bank, in a statement ahead of the annual parliament meeting, said: "our country's economic and financial development will encounter more serious and complex conditions."
A Chinese business survey on Monday provided tentative evidence that a sharp downturn in the country's manufacturing sector was bottoming out, though it also showed China was not yet clear of trouble, with the economy sill in contraction and jobs being shed. [ID:nPEK205406]
SASAC instructed state-owned firms to control their debt levels and limit their investment in derivatives such as futures and options.