Beijing ‘fully focused’ on economic growth, with Hong Kong’s capital markets a crucial enabler: top regulators

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Officials from China’s central bank and securities watchdog hit back at the notion that China has reduced its focus on economic growth during a global summit on Wednesday

Beijing will continue to strengthen Hong Kong as an international financial centre to drive the mainland’s development, regulators added

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Yi Gang, governor of the People’s Bank of China, appeared in pre-recorded video on Wednesday at the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit conference. Photo: YouTube

Pearl Liu

Published: 1:00pm, 2 Nov 2022Updated: 2:07pm, 2 Nov 2022

Beijing remains “fully focused” on economic growth and is committed to making Hong Kong an even stronger international financial centre to help achieve that goal, China’s top financial regulators said during a global finance summit in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

“Hong Kong has great potential in deepening connections with the mainland financial market, financing and investing under the Belt and Road initiative, fintech and green finance,” Yi Gang, governor of the People’s Bank of China, told attendees of the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit.

The city has the full support of the country’s central bank to maintain its law-based, open, inclusive and enabling business environment, he said while appearing in a pre-recorded video at the biggest gathering of global finance heavyweights in the city in three years.

Yi, together with Xiao Yuanqi, vice-chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), and Fang Xinghai, vice-chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), discussed the positions of China and Hong Kong amid global economic headwinds in the video, which was shown during a public forum on the second day of the summit organised by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).

A pre-recorded dialogue between the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s chief executive Eddie Yue Wai-man (left) and the People’s Bank of China governor Yi Gang (right) during the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong on November 2, 2022. Photo: Enoch Yiu

“China’s monetary policy stays accommodative to support the real economy this year to better support economic growth,” Yi said. Monetary policy has been calibrated to provide ample liquidity and lower financing costs, he added.