Property sales

THE country’s leading property developers saw robust sales growth in April, an industry report shows.

Sales of 100 surveyed major property developers rose 32 percent year on year to nearly 1.04 trillion yuan (US$160.8 billion), according to data from property research institution CRIC. The figure represented a month-on-month decline of 4.2 percent, CRIC data shows.

Rural investment

THE government has issued a guideline to encourage social investment in 13 major rural and agricultural sectors to boost rural vitalization.

The sectors include modern planting and breeding, farm-produce processing and circulation, new type of rural services, agricultural technological innovation and rural infrastructure, said the guideline jointly released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the national administration for rural vitalization.

Financial relief

THE government will extend financial relief measures for small and micro businesses, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

Provinces and regions will be encouraged to lower loan guarantee costs for these enterprises, including by cutting the guarantee rate to 1.5 percent or below, the ministry said in the statement posted on its website Saturday. The extension will run from this year to 2023, it said, extending the previous plan that was in place from 2018 until 2020.

Services sector

THE services sector expanded at the sharpest pace in four months in April, driven by fast growing new businesses, a private survey showed, although surging costs are likely to weigh on growth over the coming months.

The Caixin/Markit services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 56.3, the highest since December when the same reading was registered and up from 54.3 in March.