Last Week in Brief: China's Top Financial News in the Week Ending March 1
Yicai Global
DATE:  Mar 02 2020
/ SOURCE:  yicai
Last Week in Brief: China's Top Financial News in the Week Ending March 1 Last Week in Brief: China's Top Financial News in the Week Ending March 1


China's official gauge of factory activity fell nearly 10 points more than expected to 35.7 last month, a 4.3-point drop from a month earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics released on Feb. 29. By Feb. 25, the Covid-19 outbreak had started to let go of its grip as most large and medium-sized manufacturing firms said they had resumed work. The non-manufacturing purchasing managers index was at 29.6 instead of the expected 50.5.

China hasn't changed its property sector's financial policies or eased the related regulatory standards but is currently just helping real estate firms in difficulties via interim policies, Xiao Yuanqi, spokesman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said on Feb. 25.

China's finance ministry and central bank said on Feb. 28 that they will lend CNY300 billion (USD42.9 billion) in low-interest loans to help businesses in financial troubles amid the Covid-19 epidemic. The People's Bank of China had additionally released CNY500 billion in re-lending and re-discounting funds, targeting small and medium-sized banks. Moreover, it lowered the re-lending interest rate for rural and small financial institutions by 0.25 percentage point to 2.5 percent.

China's civilian population had 261.5 million registered passenger vehicles by the end of last year, up by 21.2 million units from a year earlier, the NBS said on Feb. 28. The country's high-speed railways totaled more than 35,000 kilometers, rising 5,000 kms from late 2018. Meanwhile, expressways amounted to more than 140,000 kms.

China will implement its new registration-based initial public offering registration scheme in steps in different markets and sectors, the State Council said in a notice on Feb. 29. Shanghai's Nasdaq-style Star Market kicked off last year with the faster IPO review process.

Last month, US stock markets had their worst week since the 2008 financial crisis as the Covid-19 outbreak cast its shadow over global markets. Three major stock benchmarks dropped more than 10 percent, wiping out more than USD8 billion in market caps. Chinese markets were not saved from the impact.

Editor: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine 

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Keywords:   Central Bank,PMI,NBS