Shenzhen’s Shrinking Fiscal Revenue Is Not a Good Sign

A rundown of the news making headlines in and around China:

Fiscal pressure: Southern boomtown Shenzhen’s general public budget revenue shrank for the first time since 1990, boding ill for the state of local government finances in China. The Guangdong province city’s general public budget revenue fell 4.8% to 391.4 billion yuan ($54 billion) last year. The expected revenue drop was officially disclosed Tuesday in the city’s annual budget report. The decline heralds the greater fiscal pressure that local governments anticipate in 2025. Many have set conservative revenue targets for the year, as they face economic hurdles including persistently weak prices and an ailing property market.