China called on banks to boost real estate lending in the first quarter and eased a key debt restriction for developers, a sign that authorities are becoming increasingly concerned about the industry’s liquidity crisis, Bloomberg News reported. In previously unreported window guidance issued last month, regulators told banks to step up lending to developers after at least two quarters of consecutive declines, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.

The crisis engulfing China Evergrande Group deepened, as the embattled property developer said it had been ordered to tear down dozens of buildings on an extravagant man-made island in southern China, the Wall Street Journal reported. At the same time, Evergrande released data showing its much-publicized financial stress had largely halted sales of new homes, depriving it of an important source of cash. Contracted sales dwindled to about 720 million yuan, the equivalent of just $113 million, between mid-October and year-end, the company’s figures showed.

A wall of maturing debt and a surge in seasonal demand for cash will test China’s financial markets this month, putting pressure on the central bank to ensure sufficient liquidity, Bloomberg News reported. Demand for liquidity may total about 4.5 trillion yuan ($708 billion) in January, 18% more than the amount seen last year, according to calculations by Bloomberg based on official data and analysts’ estimates. An increase in the amount of policy loans coming due and demand for cash to be spent during the Lunar New Year, which takes place earlier in 2022, are drivers.

A demolition order from authorities on the southern Chinese island of Hainan has plunged embattled property giant Evergrande into a fresh publicity crisis amid an investigation into the legality of a major project’s planning permits, the Washington Post reported. Trading of China Evergrande Group shares was suspended Monday following reports from local media that the Danzhou government had ordered the removal within 10 days of 39 apartment blocks on an artificial island in the seaside city after ruling that previous approvals were not valid.

Trading in the shares of the indebted property developer China Evergrande Group were suspended on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday morning as the company raced to deliver apartments to millions of home buyers and raise cash to manage its $300 billion in debt, the New York Times reported. Evergrande said in a filing that its shares were halted pending an announcement “containing inside information,” without giving more details. The company had halted its shares once before, in October, as it tried to finalize the sale of a $2.6 billion stake in its property management unit.

China added $16.7 billion in foreign debt in the third quarter of 2021 due in part to increased purchases of onshore yuan-denominated bonds by foreign investors, Bloomberg News reported. About 47% of China’s outstanding debt of $2.7 trillion at the end of September are medium to long-term obligations, up three percentage points from the end of June, Wang Chunying, deputy director and spokesman of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said in a statement released on Friday.

China’s manufacturing and service sectors showed unexpected signs of recovery to close out the year, according to a pair of official gauges released Friday, as Beijing moved to arrest a downward spiral triggered by a real-estate slump and coronavirus outbreaks, the Wall Street Journal reported. China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 50.3 in December, up from November’s 50.1, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Friday. The result was better than the 50.0 median expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.

China Evergrande Group halted trading in its shares following local media reports that the company has been ordered to tear down apartment blocks in a development in Hainan province, Bloomberg News reported. The shares were suspended pending an announcement containing inside information, Evergrande said in a brief statement. A local government in Hainan told Evergrande to demolish 39 buildings in 10 days because the building permit was illegally obtained, Cailian reported on Saturday. The project is on artificially built islands off the coast of Hainan.

China’s debt-laden Tsinghua Unigroup on Wednesday said creditors had backed a draft restructuring proposal for the chip conglomerate after local media reported that a strategic investment of 60 billion yuan ($9.42 billion) was on the way, Reuters reported. Creditors representing more than 90% of outstanding claims voted in favor of the draft restructuring proposal at an investors’ meeting on Wednesday, Unigroup said in a statement.