1st LD-Writethru: Entrepreneurs, bankers more upbeat on Chinese economy: surveys

BEIJING, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese entrepreneurs and bankers were more confident about the economy in the fourth quarter of this year than the previous quarter, central bank surveys showed Tuesday.

The entrepreneur confidence index reached 71.8 percent for Q4, 3.1 percentage points higher than Q3 and 17.6 percentage points higher than Q4 2016, according to a People's Bank of China (PBOC) survey of over 5,000 industrial companies.

Meanwhile, the business climate index rose to 59.8 percent in Q4, 4.3 percentage points higher than the Q3 level.

Another PBOC poll of over 3,000 bankers showed the banker confidence index rose 3.8 percentage points from Q3 to 79.1 percent in Q4.

Among the bankers surveyed, 79.1 percent considered the current macro-economy "normal," while only 19.2 percent said economic activity was "relatively cool," the central bank said.

Meanwhile, 78.6 percent of the bankers considered the monetary policy "appropriate," up 3.6 percentage points from Q3.

The PBOC also surveyed 20,000 urban households, 26.2 percent of which said they plan to "spend more," while 33 percent said they plan to invest more.

About 32 percent of those polled expected China's housing prices to rise in the first quarter of 2018, while 9.3 percent of them said housing prices would fall.

China's GDP expanded 6.8 percent year on year in the third quarter, down from the second quarter's 6.9-percent increase, but above the government's targeted growth of around 6.5 percent for the year.

The country has set the tone of its 2017 monetary policy as prudent and neutral, keeping appropriate liquidity levels but avoiding excessive liquidity injections. Enditem