In China's take on the TV series “Squid Game,” fraudsters are preying on the financially distressed in a slumping economy with promises of prize money, debt restructuring and other schemes that are not always what is promised, Reuters reported. Unlike the dystopian South Korean TV series, which returns to the small screen for a second season on Thursday, Chinese players taking on "self-discipline" challenges do not risk their lives if they lose.
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Efforts will continue in 2025 to stabilize and prevent further declines in China's real estate market, China Construction News reported, citing a work conference held by the housing regulator on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Reuters. China will vigorously promote the reform of the commercial housing sales system, and expand the scope of urban village renovation beyond the addition of 1 million units, the report said.
The World Bank raised on Thursday its forecast for China’s economic growth in 2024 and 2025, but warned that subdued household and business confidence, along with headwinds in the property sector, would keep weighing it down next year, CNBC reported. The world’s second-biggest economy has struggled this year, mainly due to a property crisis and tepid domestic demand. An expected hike in U.S. tariffs on its goods when U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January may also hit growth.
China will ramp up fiscal support for consumption next year by raising pensions and medical insurance subsidies for residents as well as expanding consumer goods trade-ins, its finance ministry said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The country will boost the basic pension for retirees and for urban and rural residents and raise financial subsidy standards for urban and rural residents' medical insurance to help "vigorously" boost consumption, the ministry said after concluding a two-day national fiscal work conference.
Chinese authorities have agreed to issue 3 trillion yuan ($411 billion) worth of special treasury bonds next year, two sources said, which would be the highest on record, as Beijing ramps up fiscal stimulus to revive a faltering economy, Reuters reported. The plan for 2025 sovereign debt issuance would be a sharp increase from this year's 1 trillion yuan and comes as Beijing moves to soften the blow from an expected increase in U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports when Donald Trump takes office in January.
The Supreme Court on Friday restored China Development Bank, Exim Bank of China, Asset Care and Reconstruction Enterprises and others as financial creditors in the insolvency process of Reliance Infratel Ltd, which is now acquired by Reliance Project & Property Management Services, a subsidiary of Reliance Jio Infocomm, the Economic Times of India reported.
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Chinese leaders agreed last week to raise the budget deficit to 4% of gross domestic product (GDP) next year, its highest on record, while maintaining an economic growth target of around 5%, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
The new deficit plan compares with an initial target of 3% of GDP for 2024, and is in line with a "more proactive" fiscal policy outlined by leading officials after December's Politburo meeting and last week's Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC), where the targets were agreed but not officially announced.
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China's industrial output rose 5.4% from a year earlier in November, quickening from October's 5.3% growth, signalling tentative stabilisation in the world's second-largest economy as recent stimulus measures start to gain traction, Reuters reported. Data released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics beat expectations for a 5.3% rise in a Reuters poll of 26 analysts. Retail sales, a gauge of consumption, grew 3.0% in November, down from a 4.8% rise in October. Analysts had predicted a 4.6% expansion.
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China's home prices fell at the slowest pace in 17 months in November, with the crisis-hit property market showing signs of stabilising in some major cities amid government efforts to revive the real estate sector, Reuters reported. New home prices were down 0.1% in November from a month earlier, the slowest decline since June last year, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics data on Monday. Prices dropped 0.5% in October from a month earlier. In annual terms, new home prices fell 5.7% after a 5.9% drop the previous month.
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