Word: wen
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...controlled, the central government has surprisingly few ways to compel regional lenders to obey orders. In Chengdu, for example, capital of Sichuan province 1,500 kilometers from Beijing, a branch of the China Construction Bank recently approved loans to upgrade a steel mill in the town of Panzhihua. Jiang Wen, chief of the bank's business-development department, says the mill already has local-government approval, so the bank is pushing ahead despite Beijing's jawboning. "We have had no change in lending," Wen says...
...Still, it's far from certain that China has the policy tools needed to avoid a crash. Premier Wen Jiabao recently likened his country to a speeding car trying to slow down without skidding. "We cannot slam on the brakes," he said. "We have to press the brakes gently." But the country's rickety financial system may not allow gentle pressure, because it has yet to undergo a full capitalist transformation-for example, some bank loans are issued because the government orders them, not because careful analysis indicates that the borrower is a good risk. So Beijing resorts to administrative...
...economic commentary may not cause as much speculation and anxiety as that of U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, but the words of China's Premier Wen Jiabao have taken on new portent in global financial markets. The fast-growing Chinese economy, the world's sixth largest, is experiencing irrational exuberance, mainland style, and it's up to Wen to reassure everyone that Beijing can ease the country's growth rate from last year's torrid (unofficial) rate of 11.5% to single-digit levels?and do so without causing a crash that slashes China's demand for imports...
...trip to Europe last week, Wen made soothing, Greenspan-like sounds, saying China's outlook was "good on the whole" while noting "excessive" credit growth and overinvestment in some economic pockets, such as construction and steel manufacturing. He promised "resolute" measures to curtail profligacy. Indeed, Beijing has already made some moves. Regulators have increased banks' reserve requirements, reducing the amount of cash available for loans, and the central government is trying to curb rampant unauthorized development by local governments, promising punishment for those who ignore stop signs. Late last month, several Communist Party officials and a Bank of China manager...
...Wen's words did little to settle debate over the extent of China's overheating or the prospects for a soft landing. The latter is "possible but difficult," says Morgan Stanley's chief economist for Asia, Andy Xie. Because of the country's underdeveloped capital markets, "China doesn't have the instruments to fine-tune the economy," he says. And what does Greenspan think? Chinese authorities "are wholly aware of a rate of growth in a number of industries which are not sustainable," he said last week. With unruly markets hanging on their every word, both Greenspan and Wen...