China

China will seize the time window to implement policy measures to support the economy, aiming for an improvement in growth in early 2023, state media on Wednesday quoted the cabinet as saying, Reuters reported. The government in recent months has rolled out a flurry of policy measures to support growth, focusing on infrastructure spending and limited support for consumers, while loosening financing curbs to rescue the property sector. "There is still room for these policies and measures to release their effects," state media quoted the cabinet as saying after a regular meeting.

The World Bank has cut its China growth outlook for this year and next, citing the impact of the abrupt loosening of strict COVID-19 containment measures and persistent property sector weakness, Reuters reported. The Washington, D.C.-based lender, in a report released on Tuesday, said it expected China's economy to grow 2.7% in 2022, before recovering to 4.3% in 2023 as it reopens following the worst of the pandemic. The bank's expected expansion for 2022 would be well below the official target of around 5.5%.

China Evergrande Group's shareholding in its property services unit has fallen to 51.71% from 58.18% after forced selling of pledged shares by a third party, a Hong Kong stock exchange filing showed, Reuters reported. The number of Evergrande Property Services Group shares involved was 700 million, and the drop was the result of steps taken on Dec. 14 to enforce rights to the shares held as security against the embattled property developer, the filing said. The last time pledged shares of Evergrande Property Services were enforced was a year ago, when the group's stake decreased from 60.96%.

China's economy lost more steam in November as factory output growth slowed and retail sales extended declines, both missing forecasts and clocking their worst readings since May, hobbled by surging COVID-19 infections and widespread virus curbs, Reuters reported. The data suggested a further deterioration in economic conditions as lockdowns in many cities, a persistent property-sector crunch and weakening global demand pointed to a bumpy road ahead even as Beijing looked to ditch some of the world's toughest anti-virus restrictions.

China's new home prices fell for a fourth month in November in monthly terms, weighed by a sluggish economy and a still-ailing property sector, official data showed on Thursday, but recent favourable policies and a relaxation in COVID curbs have burnished the outlook, Reuters reported. New home prices in November fell 0.2% month-on-month after a 0.3% slide in October, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data. Prices dropped 1.6% year-on-year, falling for the seventh straight month. Prices slid 1.6% year-on-year in October.

New bank lending in China rebounded less than expected in November from the previous month, as the central bank seeks to bolster slowing growth in the world's second-biggest economy, Reuters reported. Chinese banks extended 1.21 trillion yuan ($173.48 billion) in new yuan loans in November, nearly doubling October's 615.2 billion yuan but falling short of analysts' expectations, according to People's Bank of China (PBOC) data released on Monday. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted new yuan loans would jump to 1.35 trillion yuan in November.

Sunac China Holdings Ltd. became one of the first major Chinese developers to unveil a debt restructuring plan, providing a potential roadmap for defaulted peers as they try to survive the nation’s unprecedented real estate crisis, Bloomberg News reported. The company proposed to convert as much as $4 billion of its $9.1 billion in offshore debt into ordinary shares or equity-linked instruments, a Hong Kong stock exchange filing showed on Friday. The rest will be exchanged into new dollar bonds with maturities ranging from two to eight years.

China will sell 750 billion yuan ($108 billion) worth of special sovereign bonds next week, in a move economists said was likely to be a rollover of existing debt rather than representing new stimulus, Bloomberg News reported. The notes will be sold on Dec. 12, and issued to designated domestic banks in the interbank bond market, according to the statement posted on the Ministry of Finance website late Friday. The People’s Bank of China will carry out open market operations with relevant banks, it added.

Hungry for foreign currency to shore up their dwindling reserves, some troubled countries have in recent years turned to an unusual source of funds: The People’s Bank of China, the Wall Street Journal reported. China’s central bank has funneled billions over the past decade to around 20 countries, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Argentina and Laos, via swap lines that allow overseas central banks to exchange their domestic currencies for Chinese yuan.

China rolled back rules on isolating people with COVID-19 and dropped virus test requirements for some public places Wednesday in a dramatic change to a strategy that confined millions of people to their homes and sparked protests and demands for President Xi Jinping to resign, the Associated Press reported. The move adds to earlier easing that fueled hopes Beijing was scrapping its “zero COVID” strategy, which is disrupting manufacturing and global trade.