Currency swap

CHINA and Singapore have renewed a bilateral currency swap agreement worth 300 billion yuan (US$43.98 billion) for three years, the central banks of the two countries said yesterday.

Under the arrangement, the People’s Bank of China and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) can access foreign currency liquidity to support trade and investment financing needs, including projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, and to stabilize financial markets, the MAS said. The agreement could be extended again, China’s central bank said, without giving further details.

Property tightening

THE eastern city of Suzhou will implement new property restrictions that restrict buyers of new houses in parts of the city from selling their property within three years, the local government said.

The parts of the city which the new rules will apply to include the Suzhou Industrial Park area, it said, adding that purchasers of homes which are not newly-built in parts of the city will only be allowed to sell their homes after five years.

Export container index

CHINA’S container transport for export purposes continued to contract last month due to weak demand during low seasons, according to a report released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange.

The average China Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) came in at 799.65 in April, down 3.8 percent from the previous month. The pace eased from the 6.3 percent decrease registered in March, the exchange said. The sub-indexes for most routes went down in April, with that for South Africa registering the largest decline of 9 percent from a month earlier. The CCFI tracks spot and contractual freight rates from Chinese container ports for 12 shipping routes across the globe.