Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.
Hello everyone, I am the host Li Yingliang.
Coming up on today’s program.
Key points
China’s economy has survived its worst moment and expects to pick up in 2023, senior officials said;
Shanghai subsidizes couriers over busy holiday periods.
Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours
中国's economy has survived the most difficult phase and the country's optimized COVID-19 response measures will have a positive effect on the economic recovery, according to officials and experts on Saturday.
They said that China will gradually shake off the impact of COVID-19 and post a notable economic rebound in 2023, given the further implementation of optimized measures and the more pro-growth focus of policymakers.
Yin Yanlin, deputy director of the office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, said the optimization of the COVID-19 containment measures will create favorable conditions for economic recovery.
"The worst moment is over," Yin said on Saturday at an annual meeting on China's high-quality development held by the China Wealth Management 50 Forum. "With the implementation of the optimized COVID containment measures, (China will see) smoother flow of people and logistics, and accelerated recovery in business and social activities."
"The downturn in recent years is only a short-term disturbance caused by the pandemic, which is not enough to change the long-term trend of China's economic development," he said. "The fundamentals of the Chinese economy — its long-term sustainability, strong resilience, enormous potential and vast room for maneuvers — remain unchanged."
However, Yin warned of difficulties and challenges ahead, including a more complicated external environment and slowing global demand, saying that further steps should be taken to rebalance growth with a key focus on boosting market confidence, spurring consumption, expanding effective investment and promoting healthy development in the property market.
His views were echoed by Zhu Guangyao, former vice-minister of finance, who said China's economy will likely improve as a whole in 2023, given the more pro-growth focus of policymakers for next year. "China's economy will return to its potential growth rate of between 5 and 6 percent in 2023 to post a healthy development," Zhu said during the meeting.
Wang Yiming, former deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said the recently held Central Economic Work Conference has sent clear and positive signals of stabilizing growth, boosting domestic demand, supporting the development of private sector economy and stabilizing the property market, which strongly improved the expectations and bolstered market confidence.
On December 24, at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the China Wealth Management 50 Forum with the theme of "High-quality Economic Development and the Road to Financial Development with Chinese Characteristics", Yin Yanlin, deputy director of the Office of the Central Financial and Economic Commission, said that the epidemic is a key variable currently affecting economic operation. It can be said that our country's economy has survived the most difficult moment . With the implementation of optimized and adjusted epidemic prevention and control policies, the flow of people and logistics will become smoother, all areas of economic and social life are expected to recover faster, and economic vitality will be effectively released.
Looking forward to next year, Yin Yanlin said that economic development faces many difficulties and challenges, the external environment is still turbulent, the world economy may face the risk of stagflation, and the impact of shrinking external demand on our economy is increasing and deepening. Domestically, the foundation for economic recovery is not yet solid and the "triple pressures" are still relatively large. However, favorable factors for development are increasing and the overall economic performance is expected to improve.This is not only the goal requirement put forward by the Central Economic Work Conference, but also the development trend that our country’s economy will most likely show next year.
From a longer-term perspective, the economic downturn in recent years is just a short-term disturbance caused by the epidemic, which is not enough to change the long-term trend of my country's economic development. The dawn of rapid economic recovery is just ahead, and we must have great confidence in this.
Yin Yanlin said that has greatly boosted market confidence, which is the top priority for economic work next year. Now, it’s time again when confidence is more important than gold. The Central Economic Work Conference clearly requires that we proceed from the strategic overall situation, start from improving social psychological expectations and boost development confidence, and do a good job in the outline. Among them, a crucial task is to effectively implement the "two unwavering principles."
Zhu Guangyao, former deputy minister of the Ministry of Finance, pointed out that in 2023, the external environment will be stormy. In the new year, we must unswervingly implement the important arrangements of the Central Economic Work Conference. Among them, Zhu Guangyao particularly emphasized the importance of supporting the real economy. "China's economy will definitely improve in 2023 and quickly return to the potential economic growth rate, which is 5%-6%, and continue to develop healthily." Zhu Guangyao said.
Wang Yiming, former deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said that in 2023, as the positive effects of optimizing epidemic prevention and control measures gradually emerge, China's economy is expected to rebound significantly. Wang Yiming pointed out that improves expectations and boosts confidence. The key is to boost the confidence of enterprises and entrepreneurs. At the same time, the continued recovery of consumption requires the restoration of household balance sheets. The consumption power of low- and middle-income groups who have been greatly affected by the epidemic must be increased by expanding public service expenditures, supporting residents' rigid and improved housing needs, loosening real estate purchase and loan restriction policies, encouraging financial institutions to lower mortgage loan interest rates, and actively resuming consumption of services such as tourism, to unleash the huge potential of travel consumption.
Moving on to regional highlights
Regional Observation
Shanghai announced measures encouraging enterprises to retain workers for normal operations, including handing out allowances and stepping up the supply of anti-COVID medical products, according to a circular on the local government's website. The city encourages e-commerce platforms and express firms to continue their services, and will issue allowances of 60 yuan per worker per day for frontline workers starting from Sunday and ending on January 27, 2023. A subsidy of 150 yuan per worker per day will be handed out during the upcoming New Year holiday and the Spring Festival holiday.
Shanghai provides job stabilization subsidies to couriers and takeaway boys: On December 24, Shanghai issued a notice on several policies and measures to support the city's relevant industries and enterprises to maintain jobs and maintain jobs in an orderly manner. The notice made it clear that job stabilization subsidies will be issued in stages. In order to encourage e-commerce platforms and postal express companies to continue to provide express delivery and take-out services, from December 25, 2022 to January 27, 2023, for key monitoring e-commerce platforms and postal express companies, each front-line staff working on the job will be given A subsidy of 60 yuan per day; of which, front-line personnel working during the New Year's Day period (December 31, 2022 to January 2, 2023) and the Spring Festival (January 21 to January 27, 2023) will be given a subsidy of 150 yuan per person per day.
Ticket reservations for scenic spots in Beijing during the week from December 19 to 23 rose by 177 percent compared with the previous week, data from online travel platform Trip.com showed on Sunday, while during the Christmas weekend, Beijing residents have booked tickets for local tourist attractions twice as much than the previous weekend.
Beijing’s local tourism welcomes recovery: Data released by Ctrip’s platform on December 25th shows that the number of ticket bookings for Beijing scenic spots in the past week (December 19th to 23rd) increased by 177% compared to last week. On weekends, the number of bookings for tickets to Beijing scenic spots on the platform more than tripled compared to last weekend.
Dongguan in South China’s Guangdong Province has officially lifted restrictions on home purchases in all 32 districts, including its downtown and the Songshan Lake area where headquarters of high-tech firms including Huawei are located, effective immediately. Both new and pre-owned homes, of which transaction have been done for over three years or having obtained real estate ownership certificate for at least two years, can now be listed for sales, local housing bureau of the manufacturing hub announced Monday.
Dongguan liberalizes housing purchase restrictions across the country: On December 26, the official website of the Dongguan Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau issued the "Notice on Further Optimizing Real Estate Regulatory Policies" stating that Dongguan Guancheng Street, Dongcheng Street , Nancheng Street New commercial housing and second-hand commercial housing in , Wanjiang Street , and Songshan Lake High-tech Industrial Development Zone can only be listed for trading after 3 years from the date of online signing and filing of the commercial housing sales contract (or real estate sales contract) or 2 years after obtaining the real estate certificate. The purchase restriction policy for commercial housing is suspended in the above areas. This also means that housing purchase restrictions will be relaxed in Dongguan from now on.
Greater Bay Area, Greater future
New Mission, Greater Future
Hong Kong is gearing up for the gradual resumption of normal travel, as Chief Executive John Lee said on Monday that quarantine-free travel will resume very soon in a gradual, orderly and safe manner. The target is to resume normal travel by mid-January next year, Lee revealed after a four-day duty visit to Beijing, with the Coordination Group on Resumption of Normal Travel having convened its first meeting on Sunday with the Chinese mainland. Meantime, Shenzhen will increase the daily quota for reservations of hotel quarantine rooms via Shenzhen Bay to 3,500 from 2,800 from Sunday, in anticipation of a possible surge in the run-up to the Lunar New Year.
Hong Kong strives to clear customs with the mainland by the middle of next month : Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Lee Ka-chao recently announced that the central government has agreed to gradual, orderly and comprehensive customs clearance between Hong Kong and the mainland. In order to comprehensively promote relevant work, the SAR government has established a customs clearance coordination group, led by the Chief Secretary for Administration, with members covering all 15 policy bureaux. On December 26, the Customs Clearance Coordination Group held its first meeting on the 25th to discuss a plan for gradual, orderly, and comprehensive customs clearance with the mainland, so as to reach a consensus with relevant central ministries, the Guangdong Provincial Government, and the Shenzhen Municipal Government as soon as possible, and submit the plan to the central government for approval, with the goal of implementing it before mid-January 2023. In addition, the Shenzhen Municipal Government once again increased the number of "Health Station" places to 3,500 per day. This is the increase in less than a week since the increase of 300 places last week.
Next on industry and company news
Industry and company news
China National Petroleum Corp said on Monday that its oil and gas production equivalent has hit a record high in 2022, a result of its consistent efforts in oil and gas exploration and development in recent years. China's largest oil and gas producer said its crude production has experienced a steady growth this year while the natural gas production has also gained momentum, accounting for 52.4 percent of its oil and gas production in 2022.
PetroChina’s oil and gas production reaches a record high : According to news on December 26, in 2022, PetroChina oil and gas exploration and development has received frequent good news. The annual oil and gas production equivalent reached a record high, and crude oil production increased steadily, the largest increase since the "13th Five-Year Plan"; natural gas production accelerated, accounting for 52.4% of the oil and gas production equivalent.
The world's first C919, newly received by China Eastern Airlines, started a total of 100 hours of verification flights on Monday, laying the foundation for future commercial flights which are expected to begin in spring next year. The first flight departed from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport bound for Beijing Capital International Airport on Monday. The 100-hour required flight time will last until mid-February 2023 covering 10 airports in nine provinces and cities.
China Eastern Airlines The world's first C919 begins verification flight : On December 26, the world's first C919, the latest received by China Eastern Airlines, began a verification flight on 9 routes, totaling 100 hours. This verification flight will last until mid-February 2023, and will take off and land at 10 airports in 9 provinces and cities. On that day, the first verification flight, flight number MU7801, successfully took off from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport at 13:25 and is expected to arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport at 15:16. This is also the first time that the first delivery aircraft of C919 painted by China Eastern Airlines has arrived in Beijing.
The launching ceremony of the strategic restructuring of Sinosteel Group Corporation Limited and China Baowu Steel Group Corporation was held in Beijing on Friday. After the process is completed, Beijing-based Sinosteel will become a wholly owned subsidiary of China Baowu, which will be no longer under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.
"Steel Aircraft Carrier" expansion : On December 23, the launch meeting for the restructuring of China Baowu and Sinosteel Group was held in Beijing and Shanghai on the 23rd. Recently, news from the official website of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council stated that with the approval of the State Council, China Baowu Steel Group Co., Ltd. and China Steel Group Co., Ltd. have implemented a reorganization. China Steel Group Co., Ltd. has been integrated into China Baowu Steel Group Co., Ltd. and will no longer be an enterprise directly supervised by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
Switching gears to financial news
financial market news
China’s digital yuan payment app has introduced a “red packet” function that allows users to send and receive money gifts also on other payment platforms such as Tencent’s WeChat Pay and Ant Group’s Alipay. The app has a new “Cash Red Packet” option directly connected to users’ digital wallets. There are two kinds of red packets, those that can be sent to mobile phone contacts and those that can be sent through WeChat, Alipay, and QQ.
Digital RMB launches “red envelope” function : Recently, the digital RMB App received an important update, adding “exclusive avatar” and “personal red envelope” functions. Different from WeChat and Alipay red envelopes, digital RMB red envelopes can be issued and received on multiple platforms such as WeChat, QQ, Alipay and other platforms. The "Service" page of the Digital RMB App has a new "Cash Red Envelope" option, which is divided into two categories: "Group Red Envelope" and "Exclusive Red Envelope". There is no usage limit after receiving the cash red envelope, and it can be used for payment or deposited back into the account.
Wrapping up with a quick look at the stock market
stock market closing situation
Chinese stocks rose on Monday as investors looked past surging COVID-19 infections in the country and bet on a likely recovery in consumption trends. The benchmark Shanghai Composite gained 0.65 percent, while the Shenzhen Component rose 1.19 percent with its tech-heavy ChiNext Index jumping nearly 2 percent. Hong Kong markets are closed on Monday though Tuesday for Christmas break.
A shares fluctuated upwards Hong Kong stocks closed : On Monday, the three major A-share indexes opened higher and went higher , with shocks and upwards. As of the close, the Shanghai Composite Index closed up 0.65%, halting seven consecutive losses, the Shenzhen Component Index closed up 1.19%, the GEM Index closed up 1.98%, and the transaction volume of the two cities was approximately 624.3 billion yuan. The Hong Kong stock market is closed during the Christmas period (Monday and Tuesday).
Biz Word of the Day
Financial Vocabulary Focus
House purchase restriction orderrefers to the policy issued by local governments in China’s major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, to curb the overheating real estate market by imposing restrictions on purchasing power. Beijing was the first city to carry out the purchase restriction order.
"Housing purchase restriction order" refers to the house purchase restriction policy issued by the government. It comes from the "Ten National Implementation Rules" issued by Beijing in 2010. The detailed rules stipulate that Beijing families can only purchase one new commercial house. This is the first time in the country that a "purchase restriction order" has been proposed for the number of houses purchased by a family. Since then, 49 cities at or above the prefecture level, including Shanghai and Guangzhou, have implemented “purchase restriction orders.”
Executive Editor: Sonia YU
Editor: LI Yanxia
Host: Stephanie LI
Writer: Stephanie LI
Sound Editor: Stephanie LI
Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni
Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.
Presented by SFC
Editorial Board: Yu Xiaona
Planning and editing: Li Yanxia
Broadcaster: Li Yingliang
Writing: Li Yingliang
Audio production: Li Yingliang
Design: Zheng Wenjing, Liao Yuanni
21 Century Economic Report Overseas Department Production
Southern Finance Omni Media Group Produced by
For more content, please download 21 Finance APP
