Economic data released in China last week revealed the government’s two-steps-forward, one-step-back approach to macroeconomic management, the Financial Times reported. While the rest of the world fretted about runaway debt levels in the world’s second-largest economy earlier this year, Chinese economic planners kept their eyes firmly on their target range for gross domestic product growth, set at 6.5 to 7 per cent.

The cost to restructure debt laden shipping and shipbuilding industries here will be as much as 31 trillion won ($27 billion), according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), The Korea Times reported. In a report, "Benefits and Costs of Corporate Debt Restructuring: An Estimation for Korea," the IMF said it will take about 10 years to recoup the costs, with the restructured industries contributing to economic growth by restarting investment and hiring new employees.

Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd chose an advisor to seek a potential sale of its stake in Long Beach Terminal, a spokeswoman said on Friday. Hanjin Shipping chose the advisor with the approval of the Seoul court overseeing the shipper's receivership, the spokeswoman said, declining to name the advisor. The collapsed shipper owns a majority stake in Total Terminals International LLC, which operates Long Beach Terminal. Read more.

Fresh doubts emerged over the reliability of Chinese statistics on Wednesday after officials said the economy grew 6.7%—for the third consecutive quarter. It was the first time since Beijing started releasing quarterly figures in 1992 that it had achieved such a feat of consistency, The Wall Street Journal reported. Economists say it is rare for a fast-growing economy to clock the same growth quarter after quarter.

China’s housing market is bubbling over. A boom in values in metropolises such as Beijing, Shanghai and their environs — up 25 per cent or higher over the past year alone, according to Savills China — has spread to smaller cities this year. In August, real estate prices in the southeastern coastal city of Xiamen were up 40 per cent over a 12-month period, the Financial Times reported. The even bigger surge in Gu’an highlighted one of the area’s unique selling points. Local developers have touted the county’s proximity to Beijing’s second international airport.

China’s economy is slowing. How bad can it get? China is widely expected to report on Wednesday that its economy grew about 6.7 percent in the third quarter from a year ago. That would match the growth pace China set in the first and second quarters of this year. In economics, stability like that is remarkable — and usually not to be believed, the International New York Times reported. Economists often look beyond the official numbers to find alternative ways to gauge the Chinese economy.

A South Korean court has decided to allow two units of the collapsed STX shipbuilding group to be sold either separately or together, according to a sales notice seen by Reuters on Tuesday, opening the prospect of a separate sale of STX France. The French business, which specialises in building cruise ships at its former naval yard in Saint-Nazaire and is profitable, is expected by analysts to attract buying interest. Bids are due in by Nov.

On Wednesday China’s National Bureau of Statistics will report its latest quarterly estimate for economic growth, which has stabilised after the world’s second-largest economy was rocked by a dual market and currency crisis in January. For Beijing, economic stability is paramount as it turns its focus to reining in runaway corporate debt levels, the Financial Times reported.

Seventeen years ago, Zhou Xiaochuan, then president of one of China’s oldest and largest banks, wrote an essay in an economics bimonthly magazine addressing the hottest policy topic of the day: a controversial new government program that let selected state-owned companies unwind loans they couldn’t repay with massive equity transfers to banks, The Wall Street Journal reported. In the 1999 essay, Mr. Zhou, who is now China’s central bank governor, laid out a clear-eyed critique of the dangers of debt-to-equity swaps. Beijing had already got the swaps underway by the time Mr.

Credit Suisse analysts are warning the insurance fallout from the demise of Hanjin Shipping could be one of the largest combined maritime claims in history. The final bill could be as high as $1.8bn, with half of it in marine insurance, the investment bank has warned.