Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/327636
12 Business Today maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 11 JUNE 2014 CSB Advocates represents Malta at international shipping exhibition China to boost bank lending power, though IMF says no need Last week, two associates from CSB Advocates visited the Posidonia In- ternational Shipping Exhibition in Athens, Greece. The exhibition, held at the Metropolitan Expo, con- sisted of four immense halls hous- ing hundreds of exhibitors' stands. Maritime Malta's red and white brightly lit setup stood out amongst the various stands, and was tended to by some of the Merchant Shipping Directorate's most prominent members. It was an extremely well-attended exhibition, teeming with ship owners, financiers, and shipping enthusiasts seeking to make purchases, finalise deals and secure crucial contacts with key members of this dynamic industry. Shipping Services in Malta include Malta flag registration- shipping, malta ship registration, incorporation and administration of a shipping company, recognised classification societies, international ship owners, ship arrest, bareboat charter registration, registration of ship mortgages, deregistration of vessels, ship maintenance and administration, ship radio licences, transferring ownership of ships, Stcw95 certification endorsement, cargo ship safety certificate guidelines and a vessel registration fee calculator. For Vessel Registration Services, including Ship & Yacht Registration, Shipping Company Incorporation and Yacht Finance Leasing email on marine@csbgroup.com China aims to cut the proportion of cash that commercial banks must keep with the People's Bank of China, the banking regulator said on Friday, signalling further monetary loosening although the IMF and World Bank say the economy is doing fine. The China Banking Regulator Commission (CBRC) did not say when reductions in banks' reserve requirement ratios would be made, but it is the third time in as many months that Beijing has signalled a cut in RRRs, which would free up more cash for lending needed to shore up growth. The CBRC did, however, qualify its comments, saying RRR reductions would be available to those banks whose lending to small firms and the farm sector warranted the reward. It did not elaborate. The central bank also signalled on Friday that it would keep credit supply ample by letting China's main money market rate fall again this week. Aside from prospects for reductions in banks' RRR, two bankers told Reuters on Friday that the central bank has also lent $16 billion to commercial banks so that they can issue the money to farming projects. Both the IMF and World Bank gave China a thumbs-up in separate reports this week that said the world's second-biggest economy should hit the government's target of around 7.5 percent growth this year, and encouraged the more urgent pursuit of reforms. Some economists say the IMF and the World Bank may have been unduly confident about China's near- term growth prospects. "If the government wants to achieve its 7.5 percent growth target, I don't really agree with the IMF that it can just not do anything," said Julian Evans-Pritchard at Capital Economics in Singapore. "I think the downward pressure on the economy, especially from the property sector, is still quite significant." Buffeted by unsteady global demand and slowing domestic investment, growth in China's stuttering economy cooled to an 18-month low of 7.4 percent between January and March. A cool-down in a buoyant property market, which contributes more than 15 percent of China's economic expansion, has fuelled fears that the Chinese economy will face even stronger headwinds in coming months. That has fed investor speculation that China will take firmer action to boost activity, including lowering the RRR for all banks. The economy faces relatively big downward pressures even as the growth rate, employment and inflation stayed within reasonable ranges, state radio quoted Premier Li Keqiang as saying.