(Yicai Global) May 18 --The China Securities Regulatory Commission will actively create the conditions necessary for the market-entry channels of various kinds of funds, above all medium-and long-term ones, Yi Huiman, its chairman said. Listed companies must not lie, spin tall tales or resort to accounting fraud to camouflage the Covid-19 pandemic's impacts, as this is not only a basic market constraint, but also a regulatory baseline, he warned.

China's Consumer Price Index rose by 3.3 percentage points annually last month as food price began to fall off from a peak, down by 1 percentage point from the March CPI, according to official statistics. China's economy has also embarked on a stable rebound as the coronavirus comes gradually under control, with a nearly 4 percent yearly increase last month in the added value of national industrial enterprises above the designated scale of over CNY20 million (USD2.8 million) in annual operating income, which declined by 1.1 percent annually in March. Total retail sales of consumer goods slumped by 7.5 percent last month compared with the same period last year, but the annual drop reached 15.8% percent in March.

Yuan loans swelled by CNY1.7 trillion (USD239 billion) last year, growing by about CNY682 billion (USD96 billion) annually, per data from the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank. The M2 broad money supply rose by 11.1 percent yearly by last month’s end in a clear upswing from growth rates at the end of March and the same time last year.

The business revenue of 26 listed securities brokerages in China tallied about CNY26 billion (USD3.7 billion) last month, spurred by active stock market transactions, up by about 54 percent from March, and an over 61 percent gain from last year’s same period. Corresponding net profit reached about CNY10.9 billion, up by some 56 percent monthly, and 75 percent yearly.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission issued a ruling sanctioning Kangmei Pharmaceutical for a financial fiddle on May 14, fining the traditional Chinese medicine maker CNY600,000 (USD84,402) and giving it a warning. The watchdog also slapped penalties ranging from CNY100,000 to CNY900,000 on 21 executives implicated in the scandal and handed down market bans on six major executives ranging from 10 years to life.

The global economic loss caused by the Covid-19 pandemic will range from USD5.8 trillion to USD8.8 trillion, equaling 6.4 to 9.7 percent of the gross domestic product of the entire world, the Asian Development Bank estimated in a report it released on May 15.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Ben Armour