China

Legal warnings posted on the door of a private, for-profit hospital in eastern China tracked its descent into financial failure, the New York Times reported. Huiren Hospital in the city of Suqian was warned for failing to pay employees. Four months later, a judicial summons said it still had not paid back wages. Finally, in September a paper taped across its entrance declared the building closed. The hospital, once known for treating men with infertility or sexually transmitted diseases, had been hollowed out. The furniture and equipment were gone. There was no staff.

China is expected to leave its benchmark lending rates unchanged on Thursday, a Reuters poll showed, as authorities walk a fine line between prioritising financial stability and providing more stimulus at a time when Beijing is facing fresh trade tensions. The central bank has adopted a cautious approach in recent cash injection despite a shift to an "appropriately loose" monetary policy stance this year, as yuan weakness and narrowing net profit margins at lenders limit its easing efforts.

New bank loans in China surged more than expected to a record high in January as the central bank moved to shore up a patchy economic recovery, reinforcing expectations for more stimulus in coming months as U.S. tariffs threaten to pile more pressure on the economy, Reuters reported. Chinese banks extended 5.13 trillion yuan ($706.40 billion) in new yuan loans in January, more than quadrupling the December figure, data from the People's Bank of China showed on Friday.

China's outstanding property loans were down 0.2% at the end of the fourth quarter, less than the prior year's 1% decline, central bank data showed on Friday, indicating government efforts to bolster the market were beginning to take effect, Reuters reported. Outstanding property loans at the end of 2024 stood at 52.8 trillion yuan ($7.27 trillion). Of the total, outstanding loans allocated for real estate project development rose 3.2% from the prior year to 13.56 trillion yuan.

China saw record outflows of foreign direct investment last year, an exodus that threatens to persist after the resumption of a trade war with the U.S., Bloomberg News reported. Net FDI dropped by $168 billion in 2024, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the biggest capital flight in data going back to 1990. Foreign investment into China has slumped in recent years after hitting a historical high of $344 billion in 2021. International companies have been pulling back just as domestic firms also rapidly moved money abroad.

Greentown China Holdings Ltd. priced a $350 million bond to refinance offshore debt, the first dollar note sold by a major Chinese property firm since 2023, Bloomberg News reported. The state-backed company is issuing the three-year note, callable after two, at a yield of 8.45%, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. That’s 40 basis points tighter than initial price guidance. Greentown earlier Thursday unveiled an offer to repurchase two dollar bonds maturing later this year that are trading near par.

Chinese authorities are working on a proposal to help China Vanke Co. plug a funding gap of about 50 billion yuan ($6.8 billion) this year, according to people familiar with the matter, highlighting the government’s support for the distressed developer, Bloomberg News reported. Under the plan, regulators would allocate 20 billion yuan of special local government bond quota for the purchase of unsold properties and vacant land from Vanke, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing private information.

China is racing to make itself less reliant on the outside world’s products and technology—part of a yearslong effort by leader Xi Jinping to make China more self-sufficient and impervious to Western pressure as tensions with the U.S. rise, the Wall Street Journal reported. Beijing has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into favored industries, especially in high-end manufacturing, while exhorting business leaders to fall in line with the government’s priorities. In many ways, the effort is succeeding.

China Vanke Co. won more support from authorities as its largest state shareholder agreed to provide up to 2.8 billion yuan ($383 million) to help the struggling developer repay outstanding debt, Bloomberg News reported. Shenzhen Metro Group Co., which holds a 27% stake in Vanke, signed a three-year secured loan agreement with the firm on Monday, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Under the deal, Vanke will provide asset collateral worth up to 4 billion yuan to Shenzhen Metro through an 18% stake in its property management unit Onewo Inc.

Country Garden Holdings Co.’s sales slump dragged on in January, as new residential transactions countrywide resumed falling on weak sentiment. Contracted sales dropped 59% from a year earlier to 2.26 billion yuan ($309 million), following a 51% year-on-year decline in December, according to Bloomberg calculations based on corporate filings. Country Garden’s slide in home sales substantially surpasses the 3.2% posted by the 100 biggest real estate companies tracked by China Real Estate Information Corp. The market is dented by weak domestic demand and a worsening job market.