China’s central bank said it will focus on controlling risks in the financial system and seek “stable and appropriate” growth in aggregate financing, a measure of funding that includes loans and stock and bond sales. The People’s Bank of China also said it will stick to a prudent monetary policy next year and try to stabilize growth, rebalance the economy and contain inflation. The four-paragraph statement released late Dec. 28 after a quarterly meeting of the monetary policy committee, mostly reiterated the stance set out at a government work conference earlier this month. The PBOC’s addition of “controlling risks” ... (full story)