Economy

China, India, Saudi Arabia and the Paris Club of mostly Western traditional creditor nations are collaborating on debt resolution cases in multiple countries for the first time. Lengthy negotiations on debt reduction have been underway among creditors to determine who should bear potential losses and how restructuring plans should be arranged. Whether and how China will provide debt relief is a key element of these discussions.

While Chinese e-commerce platforms like Shein and Temu have been doing well in achieving fast and high growth in the US market, they face commercial and regulatory challenges too and would need to undertake several risk mitigation strategies.

China’s property market has been in the doldrums, and prices have been falling, not least in Shanghai. And as prices in Shanghai fall, so will prices in other Chinese cities. Zaobao correspondent Chen Jing looks at the impact of property market movements on the overall Chinese economy.

Acknowledged as a key industry in the National Mid-Term Development Plan 2015-2019, Indonesia's nickel industry has witnessed significant investments, especially from China. While the industry faced a boom from the Russian-Ukraine conflict and the easing of China’s zero-Covid policy, the unchecked growth of Class 2 nickel production from Indonesia could cause oversupply in global markets and suppress the commodity’s price. In crafting new policies, Indonesia must also prioritise stronger social and environmental safeguards.

Despite all the talk of de-dollarisation and some movement towards it, the US dollar remains the dominant global currency for now, and it will be an uphill task to shift away from it. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Lai Oi Lai speaks to academics and financial experts to find out more about the world's pursuit of de-dollarisation as a way of risk management.

Greater prosperity in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area would require greater synergising and complementarity between the core leading cities of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. But this is easier said than done, especially for Hong Kong. EAI senior research fellow Yu Hong explains.

Shenzhen’s Qianhai is a relatively new business district that the Chinese government wants to develop. However, there has been comparatively little pull so far, given that general facilities are lacking and the supportive policies for foreign companies are no different from those in other areas in Shenzhen. However, some business people Zaobao talked to are upbeat about its future.

A swathe of negative economic data for April, which included the manufacturing sector unexpectedly contracting and retail sales missing forecasts, indicate that China's recovery remains lopsided. It’s not a question of whether there is enough money being pumped into the economy to fuel the recovery, but instead where that money is going and why people aren’t availing themselves of more credit?

The solution to developing countries’ ballooning debt arising from borrowing to finance Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and other projects is not to stop the work, as such projects could spur greater economic development and growth, says EAI senior research fellow Yu Hong. Rather, greater transparency and debt sustainability analysis should be applied in relation to BRI debt.