Second-quarter economic growth seen slowing

CHINA’S second-quarter economic growth is expected to have slowed slightly from the previous quarter, a Reuters poll showed, as the government’s efforts to tackle debt risks crimp activity and a looming U.S. trade war threatens exports.

The economy has already felt the pinch from a multi-year crackdown on riskier lending that has driven up corporate borrowing costs, promoting the central bank to pump out more cash by cutting reserve requirements for lenders.

HK retail sales growth quickens

HONG KONG’S retail sales posted its fourth month of double-digit growth in May, helped by strong consumer spending and a rise in visitors from the mainland.

Retail sales rose 12.9 percent from a year earlier in value terms to HK$40.5 billion (US$5.16 billion) in May, government data showed, faster than 12.3 percent in April and its 15th month of expansion. In volume terms, retail sales grew 11.6 percent. For the first five months of 2018, total retail sales rose 13.7 percent in value terms and 12.2 percent in volume terms.

Jiangsu launches ‘green loans’ to fight pollution

EASTERN China’s Jiangsu Province, a major manufacturing region in the Yangtze River Delta, has launched an 8 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) environmental credit fund to help promote green development and fight pollution, the local government said.

The provincial government has provided 400 million yuan to launch the new fund, with an initial 8 billion yuan of extra financing to be offered through banks, the Jiangsu environmental protection bureau said in a notice Wednesday.

Hebei vows more heavy industry capacity cuts

THE smog-prone northern Chinese province of Hebei on Thursday said it plans to slash steel capacity by 50 percent in some of its major cities by 2020, and will also shut coal mines, coking plants and cement factories to upgrade its industrial economy.

Hebei, a major source of the air pollution drifting over neighboring Beijing, produces about a quarter of the country’s total steel output, and it has been on the front line in China’s war on pollution, now in its fifth year. According to an article published by the Hebei provincial environmental bureau, the province will aim to cut a total of around 40 million tons of steel smelting capacity from 2018 to 2020.