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China, eager for ‘good start’, tells regions to limit Lunar New Year’s drag on economy
- China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology gathered the leaders of several regions to call for robust industrial growth in the new year
- Officials want ‘good start’ to year as concerns still loom over the pace of economic recovery
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Luna Sunin Beijing
Fourteen Chinese regions have been tasked by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to stabilise manufacturing and ensure a good start to the year, as the sector faces unabating headwinds in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday.
At a meeting held by the ministry for officials from major economic centres, efforts were also urged to mitigate disruptions from the impending holiday and support companies in their explorations of external markets.
“Various measures will be taken to support enterprises in maintaining stable production and employment, ensuring a good start and positive momentum in the industrial economy for the first quarter,” the ministry said in an official WeChat post published on Sunday.
“Efforts will be fully dedicated to expanding market demand, promoting holiday spending [and] cultivating new sources of consumption growth.”
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The gathering underscores Beijing’s hope to start the year off strong, after China’s economy grew by only 5.2 per cent last year and economists have warned of a wobbly recovery to come.
China’s industrial sector has thus been closely watched. As manufacturers struggle with waning overseas orders and weak domestic demand, a protracted local government debt crisis and a slump in the property sector have compounded the problem.
The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) reading for the world’s second-largest economy has remained below 50, indicating contraction, for four consecutive months – although January’s PMI rebounded slightly to 49.2 from 49 in December.
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