Capital-hungry smaller Chinese startups are vying for speedy offshore listings by merging with blank-check firms at a time when Beijing's tighter scrutiny has slowed capital raising via overseas IPOs, company executives and bankers said, Reuters reported. As a string of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) hunt for targets to merge with, the startups see an opportunity to raise funds and get listed by cutting the time and regulatory rigour needed for traditional market debuts, they said.

Gina Raimondo, the secretary of commerce, issued a stern warning on Tuesday to Chinese companies that might defy U.S. restrictions against exporting to Russia, saying the United States would cut them off from American equipment and software they need to make their products, the New York Times reported. The Biden administration could “essentially shut” down Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation or any Chinese companies that defy U.S. sanctions by continuing to supply chips and other advanced technology to Russia, Raimondo said.

China’s central bank stepped up its financial support for the economy, saying it will transfer more than 1 trillion yuan ($158 billion) in profits to the government to help finance fiscal spending, Bloomberg News reported. It’s the first time the People’s Bank of China has disclosed this kind of transfer, although it’s required by law to hand over profits to the government every year.

As the government in Hong Kong struggles to contain the city’s worst Covid outbreak ever, some residents have panicked, the New York Times reported. Tens of thousands of new Omicron cases are being reported each day, and deaths have surged. The anxiety gripping Hong Kong is not just about the explosion of infections, but also about what the government will do next. Under pressure from Beijing to eliminate infections, Hong Kong officials have vowed to test all 7.4 million residents.

China’s government signaled more stimulus is on the cards by setting an aggressive economic growth target, calling for confidence amid rising domestic strains and global instability stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported. While the growth goal of about 5.5% for this year is the lowest in more than three decades, it’s above consensus forecasts closer to 5% and far higher than the International Monetary Fund’s projection of a 4.8% expansion.

China's export growth slowed in the January-February period largely due to base effects, and though the data beat expectations, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has heightened uncertainty over the outlook for global trade this year, Reuters reported. Outbound shipments rose 16.3% in the first two months of the year from the same period a year earlier, official data showed on Monday, beating analyst expectations for a 15.0% rise, but down from 20.9% gain in December. Imports increased 15.5%, easing from a 19.5% gain in December and below the forecast 16.5% increase.

Top Chinese banks are rushing to ensure they can maintain business ties with Russian clients without running afoul of a barrage of Western sanctions, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Western nations are tightening an economic noose around Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, shutting its banks from the SWIFT global financial network and pushing global firms to dump billions in investment.

The People’s Bank of China said it expects the number of high-risk banks to continue to decline in coming years, vowing to persist with its campaign to curb financial risks in the economy, Bloomberg News reported. By 2025, the number of lenders in the “high-risk” category in the PBOC’s quarterly reviews will likely drop below 200 from 316 in the fourth quarter of 2021, the central bank said in a statement Thursday. At the peak in the third quarter of 2019, there were 649 banks listed in the category, according to the statement.

After more than 10 dollar-debt defaults by property developers over the past year, many investors have come to the conclusion that trust is broken in the $200 billion market for high-yield bonds of Chinese companies, the Wall Street Journal reported. Since last summer, when the financial troubles of China Evergrande Group sparked a selloff in the giant property company’s bonds and those of its peers, the market has remained deeply distressed, with no end in sight to the malaise.

China’s strategic partnership with Russia has the potential to be a lifeline for a Russian economy foundering under crippling Western sanctions, but Beijing appears to be holding back over practical constraints and fears of secondary sanctions on Chinese institutions, the Washington Post reported.