China said it plans to increase the amount of money circulating in its economy next year in a new effort to spur consumer spending and shield the country from a global downturn.
Saturday’s announcement by the State Council, or Cabinet, comes on the heels of a multibillion-dollar economic stimulus package announced last month that calls for injecting more government money into the economy through spending on construction and other projects.
There are mounting signs that China’s economic slowdown is sharper and deeper than expected. Exports fell last month for the first time in seven years and Chinese Industry Minister Li Yizhong (李毅中) warned on Friday that worse was to come.
PHOTO: AFP
China will increase its money supply by 17 percent next year, the Cabinet said in a statement on its Web site. It said that would be 3 percentage points to 4 percentage points above the total growth of economic output and consumer prices.
Increasing the supply of money is aimed at stimulating domestic economic activity and spending by making more credit available to encourage consumers and companies to borrow.
“We must strengthen the role of the financial sector in supporting economic growth by better implementing an active fiscal policy and moderately easing monetary policy,” the Cabinet statement said.
The growth rate of China’s money supply slipped this year as business activity and bank lending slowed.
The growth in China’s broadest measure of money supply shrank from 16 percent in August to 15 percent last month, the central bank said. That measure, known as M2, includes cash and bank deposits.
The Cabinet also decided to increase by 100 billion yuan (US$14.6 billion) the amount of loans for the country’s policy banks this year and suspend and reduce the sale of some central bank securities, the statement said.
The central bank has been draining billions of dollars from the economy every month to reduce pressure for prices to rise as revenues from China’s booming export industries flood through the economy.
The government said it would stop sales of three-year central bank notes and reduce sales of one-year and three-month bank notes, but gave no other details.
With economic growth forecast at 9 percent and inflation at about 6 percent this year, China’s money supply growth has just kept pace with growth in commercial activity. With both growth and inflation forecast to be lower next year, the planned expansion in money supply should be much larger than is needed to maintain commercial activity.
Li said on Friday that the government will spend 15 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion) to subsidize loans to companies to improve technology and cut energy use. Li said Beijing might buy surplus steel to help producers as demand plummets, as well as cut taxes to spur auto and real estate sales.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS