Pork prices

PORK prices in China declined slightly last week, official data showed.

From Aug. 31 to Sept. 4, the average pork price index in 16 provincial-level regions tracked by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs was 47.16 yuan (US$6.90) per kg, down 0.7 percent week on week, Xinhua reported yesterday. Since the beginning of this year, the government has been taking measures to boost supply, including releasing frozen pork reserves and increasing imports.

Local govt. bonds

CHINA’S local government bond issuance hit 1.2 trillion yuan in August, data from the Ministry of Finance showed yesterday.

The figure took the total local government bond issuance for the year to 4.96 trillion yuan by the end of August as authorities quickened bond sales as part of proactive fiscal policies to shore up the virus-hit economy. Among the issuance, new sales amounted to 3.75 trillion yuan, accounting for 79.3 percent of the 4.73-trillion-yuan quota planned for the year, the official data showed. The ministry pledged to continue to quicken bond sales to facilitate the implementation of proactive fiscal policy.

New yuan loans

NEW bank loans are expected to have risen in August from the previous month, as the central bank sought to keep liquidity flush to support smaller companies and backstop an economy recovering from the coronavirus shock.

Chinese banks are estimated to have issued 1.22 trillion yuan in net new yuan loans last month, compared with 992.7 billion yuan in July, according to the median estimate in a recent survey of 35 economists. That would be largely in line with the 1.21 trillion yuan tally a year earlier. Broad M2 money supply growth in August was seen at 10.7 percent, matching previous month’s pace. Annual outstanding yuan loans were expected to grow 13 percent for August, again the same as for July.