Entrepreneurs, bankers more upbeat on Chinese economy: surveys

BEIJING - Chinese entrepreneurs and bankers were more confident about the economy in the first quarter of this year than the previous quarter, central bank surveys showed Thursday.

The entrepreneur confidence index reached 74.3 percent for the first quarter of this year, 2.5 percentage points higher than Q4 and 12.7 percentage points higher than Q1 2017, according to a People's Bank of China (PBOC) survey of over 5,000 industrial companies.

The business climate index stood at 58.6 percent, 5.9 percentage points higher year on year.

Another PBOC poll of over 3,000 bankers showed the banker confidence index rose 2.8 percentage points from Q4 2017 to 81.9 percent in Q1.

The PBOC also surveyed 20,000 urban households, 24.8 percent of which said they plan to "spend more," while 32.7 percent said they plan to invest more.

China will maintain a prudent and neutral monetary policy in 2018 as it strives to balance growth and risk prevention.