CX Daily: China’s Economy Appears Headed for Uneven Rebound

Economy /

Cover Story: China’s economy appears headed for uneven rebound

China’s economy appears to be on track for a faster-than-expected recovery, but it may not be felt evenly across the country.

When the government in December abruptly abandoned its “zero-Covid” policy after three years of draconian controls, many feared that an onslaught of outbreaks would lead to prolonged waves of infections in the world’s most populous country and further cripple its economy. But signs from the Lunar New Year holiday in the last week of January showed that the worst may have passed.

Editorial: Boosting China’s growth requires addressing fundamental problems

Banking /

Regulator hasn’t forgotten about Central China’s multibillion-dollar bank scandal

China’s top banking regulator vowed to continue its campaign to prevent small and midsize regional banks from taking large deposits outside their areas of operation or trying to attract depositors with “high” interest rates.

The promise is a sign that problems at some regional banks persist nearly a year after a scandal involving village lenders in central China left depositors unable to access their money, triggering violent protests.

China pushes ahead with restructuring of Tomorrow Holding-linked insurers

FINANCE & ECONOMY

On June 28, 2022, a new commercial residential area in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Photo: VCG

Mortgage /

Mortgage rate cuts spread to China’s wealthier regions

A number of provincial capitals and other major Chinese cities have temporarily cut mortgage rates for first-time homebuyers as part of broader efforts to revive a real estate market that has been weighing on the world’s second-largest economy.

The rate cuts, which continued after the seven-day Lunar New Year holiday, are a sign that wealthier parts of the country are taking advantage of the policies as the latest round of cuts mostly took place in second-tier cities, unlike in the past when they were concentrated in smaller third- and fourth-tier cities.

Loans /

China’s new bank loans grew 6.8% last year, PBOC says

China’s banks extended 21.31 trillion yuan ($3.15 trillion) in new yuan-denominated loans in 2022, up 6.8% from 19.95 trillion yuan in 2021, mainly driven by an uptick in corporate borrowing, a report released by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Friday showed.

Businesses borrowed 16.77 trillion yuan in new loans in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 4.63 trillion and accounting for nearly 80% of the total increase. New medium- and long-term lending provided to companies offered a significant boost, surging 19.6% to 11.05 trillion yuan in 2022 from 2020, according to the central bank.

Corruption /

Former CSRC accounting head expelled from Communist Party

Wang Zongcheng, former director of the accounting department at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), was expelled from the Communist Party and removed from public positions on corruption charges, the country’s anti-graft watchdog said Friday.

The former senior official at the Chinese securities regulator was found to have accepted bribes including banquets, expensive gifts and shopping cards from his supervision targets, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in a statement.

China’s graft busters investigate deputy of quasi military group in Xinjiang

Quick hits /

U.S. hedge fund giant Citadel tries to tap into China

Morgan Stanley wins control over China fund as competition heats up

BUSINESS & TECH

Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. has more than 10,000 employees globally.

Chips /

Yangtze Memory kicks terminated workers out of apartments

Chinese state-owned chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. is slashing payrolls by 5% to 10% and kicking terminated employees out of their company-subsidized apartments in Wuhan, according to several employees.

The Wuhan-based flash memory chip maker joined the global list of tech companies cutting their workforces in mid-January. The global integrated circuit industry is in a downturn, and Yangtze Memory is among companies affected by U.S. sanctions on China’s semiconductor industry.

Rail /

Lunar New Year rail traffic surges near pre-pandemic levels

China’s railway passenger traffic rebounded to about 90% of the pre-pandemic level of 2019 in the middle of this year’s 40-day chunyun period, official data showed, reflecting how the unwinding of “zero Covid” helped restore travel demand during the world’s largest annual human migration.

During the period between Jan. 22 and Feb. 1, some 102 million passenger trips were made on the country’s railways. Travel peaked following Lunar New Year holiday in the seven days through Feb. 1, during which railway passenger traffic exceeded 10 million people daily, according to data from the National Railway Administration (NRA).

Quick hits /

China launches pilot to make most ‘public’ vehicles NEVs

Fugitive Hong Kong mogul auctions up to $2 million in luxury handbags

Long Read /

Is someone stealing Chinese New Year?

GALLERY

Founder of Taiwan Buddhist monastery dies

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