(March 14): China's policymakers, spurred to act by ballooning debt, are trying to get the country's US$10.7 trillion stock market to play a larger role in funding the economy.

Top officials meeting in Beijing last week said they would push ahead with more equity-market reforms in 2021, accelerating a campaign aimed at encouraging more share sales from local firms. Initiatives like new hedging tools or widening the daily price limit on stocks could boost liquidity and help attract foreign capital, at a time when China's mutual fund investors are being blamed for rising stock volatility. Capital-market reforms will promote a more "mature investment culture", local media reported on Friday, citing delegates of the National People's Congress.