Tag: Economy

BEIJING —  Police in southern China have detained some staff at China Evergrande Group’s wealth management unit, suggesting a new investigation that could add to the property giant’s woes. “Recently, public security organs took criminal compulsory measures against Du [Liang] and other suspected criminals at Evergrande Financial Wealth Management Co.,” Shenzhen city police said in a social media statement Saturday night. During protests by disgruntled investors at Evergrande’s Shenzhen headquarters in 2021, Du Liang was identified by staff as general manager and legal representative of Evergrande’s wealth management division. Reuters…

BEIJING —  China’s factories picked up their pace and retail sales also gained momentum in August, the government reported Friday, suggesting the economy may be gradually recovering from its post-pandemic malaise. However, despite busy activity in restaurants and stores, the figures showed continuing weakness in the all-important property sector, where real estate developers are struggling to repay heavy loads of debt in a time of slack demand. Investment in real estate fell 8.8% in August from the year before. The decline has been worsening since the beginning of the year.…

HONG KONG —  China’s economic growth is slowing down as policymakers try to fix a property market downturn, with troubles at major developer Country Garden in focus. Concerns are mounting over whether the world’s second-largest economy is coming closer to a crunch point: What is causing China’s economic slowdown? Unlike consumers in the West, Chinese people were left largely to fend for themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic and the revenge spending spree that some economists expected after China reopened never took place. Moreover, demand for Chinese exports has been softening…

Beijing —  China halved the stamp duty on securities transactions, state media reported Sunday, in an effort to restore confidence in the world’s second-largest stock market as the country battles an economic slowdown. The cut, which will take effect on Monday, is the country’s first since 2008. China’s Ministry of Finance and its State Taxation Administration said in a joint statement the move was designed to “invigorate the capital market and boost investor confidence.” Chinese markets have eagerly awaited the reduction of the duty from its current rate of 0.1%…

BEIJING —  China’s government is trying to reassure jittery homebuyers after a major real estate developer missed a payment on its multibillion-dollar debt, reviving fears about the industry’s shaky finances and their impact on the struggling Chinese economy. There is no indication Country Garden’s problems might spread beyond China, which seals off its financial system from global capital flows, economists say. But they highlight the industry’s struggle under pressure from the ruling Communist Party to reduce soaring debt that is seen as an economic threat. That has bankrupted hundreds of…

BEIJING —  Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for patience in a speech released as the ruling Communist Party tries to reverse a deepening economic slump and said Western countries are “increasingly in trouble” because of their materialism and “spiritual poverty.” Xi’s speech was published by Qiushi, the party’s top theoretical journal, hours after data Tuesday showed consumer and factory activity weakened further in July despite official promises to support struggling entrepreneurs. The government skipped giving an update on a politically sensitive spike in unemployment among young people. Xi, the…

A broad array of Chinese data on Tuesday highlighted intensifying pressure on the economy from multiple fronts, prompting Beijing to cut key policy rates to shore up activity but analysts say more support is needed to revitalize growth. Just before the release of a batch of July data, China’s central bank unexpectedly chopped one set of key interest rates and followed it with cuts on other rates hours later, underlining the rapid loss of the post-COVID economic rebound that has shaken global financial markets. Tuesday’s data released by the National…