China

China’s property crisis has hit local governments hard, drying up a key source of income as land sales crumble. Fiscal reform plans have sparked hope relief is on the way, but economists see little progress, the Wall Street Journal reported. Cash-strapped and indebted, regional governments are seeking alternative revenue streams to compensate for falling land and tax income. That is a worrying sign that fiscal conditions are deteriorating, analysts say, and bodes ill for China’s sputtering economy.

China's largest property developer Country Garden on Friday further delayed the release of its 2023 financial results, as it needed more time amid an ongoing debt restructuring, Reuters reported. The firm had previously delayed the results in March, saying it needed more time to collect information for making appropriate accounting estimates and judgements. "The Group will finalize and publish the 2023 annual results and despatch the 2023 annual report as soon as practicable," the debt-laden property developer said in an exchange filing.

Some Russian companies are facing growing delays and rising costs on payments with trading partners in China, leaving transactions worth tens of billions of yuan in limbo, Russian sources with direct knowledge of the issue told Reuters. Russian companies and officials for a few months have pointed to delays in transactions after Chinese banks tightened compliance following Western threats of secondary sanctions for dealing with Russia. The sources said the problem has intensified this month.

The electric vehicle unit of embattled real estate developer China Evergrande said on Tuesday it expected to report a bigger loss for the first half of 2024, reflecting an increase in provision for impairments, Reuters reported. China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle estimated a consolidated net loss of about 20.25 billion yuan ($2.84 billion) for the six months ended June 30, compared with 6.87 billion yuan in the same period a year earlier.

Country Garden Holdings Co. told some investors that it is considering further extending payments on some of its yuan bonds as a prolonged sales slump adds to the Chinese developer’s financial stress, Bloomberg News reported. In an effort to gain more time to map out a debt overhaul, Country Garden’s main onshore unit may push back payments on several yuan bonds due in September by six months, the people said, citing private conversations. That would include 10% of the principal on its 4.38% notes due September 2026. Bondholders’ approval would be needed for the delays.

In recent weeks, bond traders have been piling into the perceived safety of Chinese government bonds, driving an epic buying spree that has pushed yields on the benchmark 10-year note, which move inversely to prices, to record lows, the Wall Street Journal reported. The rally has elicited an unusual response from China’s central bank, which is responsible for managing the state treasury and maintaining financial stability: Stop buying these notes.

China on Tuesday accused Canada of protectionism after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government imposed a 100% tariff on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles, matching U.S. duties on Chinese EVs, the Associated Press reported. The Chinese Commerce Ministry said the tariffs would disrupt the stability of global industrial and supply chains, severely impact China-Canada economic and trade ties and damage the interests of enterprises in both countries. “China is strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposes this,” it said in a statement.

China’s central bank left a key interest rate unchanged, keeping a lid on a bond frenzy as it stays patient in supporting the economy, Bloomberg News reported. The People’s Bank of China kept the rate on its one-year policy loans, or the medium-term lending facility, at 2.3%, after a slashing the rate by 20 basis points in July. Meanwhile, the central bank withdrew a net 101 billion yuan ($14 billion) from the banking system this month, as 401 billion yuan of the loans expired on August 15.

Bank of China Vice Chairman and President Liu Jin resigned for personal reasons effective on Sunday, the bank said, Reuters reported. The state-owned lender said that its board had approved Chairman Ge Haijiao to serve as acting president, according to a filing released by the bank on Sunday.