China’s Chip Supremacy 🏁, IMF Opens Shanghai Hub 🌍, 618 E-Commerce Sales Drop 📉

2024-06-22 | subscribe | homepage

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🚀 Headlines

China May retail sales beat expectations, but industrial output and fixed asset investment missed expectations (link)

China’s retail sales beat expectations in May, climbing 3.7% compared with a year ago and beating expectations of a 3% rise. However, industrial output grew by 5.6% year-on-year, missing the 6% increase expected, while fixed asset investment rose 4% compared to last May, just shy of the 4.2% forecast by the Reuters poll. The total retail sales of consumer goods reached 3.92 trillion yuan ($540.32 billion), with sales in urban areas up 3.7% yearly and sales in rural areas climbing by 4.1%.

China’s June 18th (618) e-commerce festival sales that stretch from the 2nd half of May dropped for the first time in 8 years. Gross merchandise value from this year’s 618 festival was 7% lower than last year, falling for the first time since 2016. It is China’s second-biggest event in terms of annual sales and is seen as a barometer for household consumption.

IMF sets up a regional center in Shanghai to enhance partnerships in the Asia Pacific region (link)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) today announced the opening of a new IMF regional center in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. The Shanghai Regional Center is being established to further strengthen the IMF’s engagement and partnership in the Asia-Pacific region. The Center will serve as a hub to promote research that can inform policies in areas of interest to emerging markets and middle-income countries. It will help deepen the IMF’s dialogue with member countries and other stakeholders in the region, including international financial institutions, academics, think tanks, CSOs, and the private sector. The Center will also facilitate targeted capacity building in the region, including through peer-to-peer learning, in cooperation with the China IMF Capacity Development Center (CICDC), which will be co-located with the new Center to maximize synergies.