China ready to give more access to foreign investors

BEIJING: China's securities regulator said the world's second-biggest economy, where the benchmark stock index has fallen 5.9% this year, is ready to give foreign investors more access to its financial markets.

The nation will 'definitely' expand the quota provided to foreign investors under China's Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program once the $80 billion current allotments are filled, Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said at a briefing in Beijing on Sunday. China's central bank and its foreign exchange regulator have no issues with expanding the quota, he said.

"We are ready to implement many more measures to help resolve the issue of inconvenience," Guo said at the briefing, held as part of the 18th Chinese Communist Party congress. Those measures include tax incentives for foreign investors, on which there has been "solid progress," and support from other departments, he said, without giving more details about the policies.