The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, said it will maintain a moderately loose monetary policy and guarantee sufficient credit to boost economic growth. In its first quarter monetary policy report published on May 6, PBOC said that although there are signs that that the government's stimulus polices have begun to take effect, private capital is still unwilling to invest, indicating that the basis for recovery remains weak. PBOC also forecasted that prices over the remainder of the year will remain on a downtrend due to overcapacity, fluctuations in commodity prices and weakening demand.

China's national pension fund posted a 2008 net loss of 39.4 billion yuan due to the collapse of the domestic stock market, its first annual loss since it was established in late 2000. That compares to a profit of 135.5 billion yuan in 2007, the National Council for Social Security Fund said in its audited annual report on May 6. The fund booked a fair value loss of 62.7 billion yuan on its securities trading positions in 2008, after China stocks lost two-thirds of their value. That's against a fair value gain of 22.6 billion yuan in 2007. Total assets of the fund stood at 562.4 billion yuan by the end of 2008, down from 569.2 billion yuan at the end of 2007.

China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) issued a notice recently that it will stop handling foreign exchange clearance business on May 27. The administration's branches will close forex clearance accounts by June 30. The business will be taken over by China's commercial banks, which were permitted to practice this business in July 2008.