China

China is widely expected to leave its benchmark lending rates unchanged at a monthly fixing on Monday, a Reuters survey showed, as signs of economic resilience reduced the urgency for further monetary easing. The loan prime rate (LPR), normally charged to banks' best clients, is calculated each month after 20 designated commercial banks submit proposed rates to the People's Bank of China (PBOC). Most new and outstanding loans in China are based on the one-year LPR, while the five-year rate influences the pricing of mortgages. The consensus of no immediate monetary easing comes as data this week showed China's second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth nudged slightly above market expectations, even though weak domestic demand and uncertainty around U.S. tariffs have r...

FDI has slumped as businesses are warned to take on burden of protecting their staff if Beijing attacks Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/04626778-0753-4fa5-a735-f1a5613b3293 Japanese government officials are telling companies they would be “on their own” if they needed to evacuate staff from Taiwan in case of a Chinese attack, according to people familiar with the matter, a message that has hit one of Taiwan’s l...

Beijing instituted export curbs on seven rare earth elements and magnets that have applications in defence, energy, and car manufacturing sectors in April as a result of US President Donald Trump’s tariff war on Chinese products. Seven of 17 rare earth elements—samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium—come under the ambit of the new restrictions. The new regulations necessitate that companies procure special licences to export the minerals and magnets. As the Chinese state builds a Great Wall of red tape, private firms have been buried under paperwork to obtain compliances. The shortages caused due to the latest controls underscore how dependent the West is on China for critical components in manufacturing electric automobiles, wind-turbine generat...

China's economy has beaten expectations even as US President Donald Trump's tariffs and a prolonged crisis in the property market weigh on growth. Official figures show the world's second largest economy grew by 5.2% in the three months to the end of June, compared to the same time last year. That's better than the 5.1% forecast by many economists but lower than the previous quarter. The country has so far avoided a sharp downturn, partly due to measures announced by Beijing to help support the economy and a fragile trade truce with Washington. The economy "withstood pressure and made steady improvement despite challenges", said China's National Bureau of Statistics in a statement. Officials said economic growth was helped by a 6.4% expansion in manufacturing, with higher ...

GDP grows 5.2% in second quarter as world’s second largest economy ‘front-loads’ shipments before tariffs kick in China’s economy grew more strongly than expected in the second quarter as it proved resilient in the face of Donald Trump’s trade war. China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 5.2% in April to June compared with a year earlier, slowing from 5.4% in the first quarter, but just ahead of analysts’ expectations for a rise of 5.1%. The world’s second largest economy has so far avoided a sharp slowdown in part due to support by Beijing and as factories took advantage of a US-China trade truce to make shipments before tariffs kicked in, or “front-loading”. However, investors are bracing for a weaker second half as exports lose momentum, prices continue to fall, and c...

China’s Yuan is plunging to record low and the timing couldn’t be worse. China’s import costs are exploding out of roof and this has shaken the global trade. Chinese manufacturing sector/firms are slowing down and prices of daily essentials are soaring. Beijing is scrambling to contain the fallout and experts have hinted out at a crisis in motion. Chinese government had injected multiple stimulus shots in recent times to stabilize its economy, but to no avail. China’s weak currency would ripple through supply chains across countries and affect everyone’s pocket. All this might trigger a chain reaction that will pull the entire global economy into recession. China had a narrative of economic revival and comeback in 2024. After surviving hard Covid times, battling property crisis and...

The world’s energy demands in 2050 could be met by an interconnected global solar-wind energy system producing three times the amount of power needed at a lower cost than independent regional systems, according to a Chinese-led study.The researchers studied how to create a network drawing on regions with abundant renewable energy potential to provide energy across and between continents to areas with high needs. While an international renewable energy market could be created by optimising solar and wind renewable energy deployment, the team said setting up such a system must navigate geopolitical boundaries and crises such as the Ukraine war. They said successful global interconnection could improve energy efficiency, ease the economic burden of decarbonisation and be resilient ...

China’s ULB debt crisis reveals what Indian cities must avoid while building infrastructure and chasing growth. This is the 172nd in the China Chronicles seriesA key element of China’s spectacular economic growth was the immense infrastructural push country’s local governments—comprising provincial governments and urban local bodies (ULBs). This was enabled by fiscal policy support from the Chinese government and an investment environment that allowed local governments (LGs) to use debt instruments to finance infrastructure and propel local economic growth. However, the debt-driven strategy led to asymmetry: economically weaker LGs, in regions with lower Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, often borrowed more heavily than those in relatively prosperous economies. Nonetheless,...