Is China Getting Desperate to Prop Up Their Economy?

About $1.3 billion was granted to the Government of Singapore Investment Group and Temasek Fullerton Alpha Investments, an investment company also owned by the government of Singapore. China allows only certain investors QFII licenses, and sovereign wealth funds fit the bill nicely.

JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Barclays (NYSE:BCS) also made the cut, being among seven other institutions that were either granted quotas or had their limits raised.

China has ramped up its marketing for the program, trying to mitigate concerns over the condition of the economy with foreign investment. Slowing economic growth is evident in the 7 percent year-to-date decline for the Shanghai Composite index.

A separate but related scheme, the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor system, may see its investment quota raised by 200 billion yuan ($31.7 billion). The program allows investors to raise yuan-based funds in Hong Kong and invest them in the mainland securities market.

The RQFII mechanism, which was launched in December 2011, is already pushing against its current limit of 70 billion yuan ($11.2 billion).

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