
China welcomed 2023 with slightly more tourists during the New Year holiday than last year but it will take longer for the country’s tourism to return to pre-Covid level. The country announced on Thurday that it will reopen its border between the mainland and Hong Kong on Sunday. The New Year also started with a further opening of China’s bond market as Standard Chartered said its China unit has become the first foreign bank to trade treasury bond furtures in China. Meanwhile, the country’s factory activity saw its biggest dip in December as rising Covid cases disrupted production.
Globally, the IMF chief warned one third of the world will be in recession in 2023 and Wall Street closed lower on first trading day of the year as worries over demands for Tesla cars and iPhones made investors sell shares of Tesla and Apple.
The IFF continues to bring you the latest China news and global development.
China sees 53 mln tourists during New Year Holiday, yet to return to pre-Covid level
More than 52.7 million trips were made during the three-day New Year holiday in China, up 0.44% from the same period last year, according to estimates by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The tourists numbers represent 42.8% of those during the same holiday in 2019.
Tourism revenues during the New Year holiday reached 26.5 billion yuan, up 4% from last year. However the revenues only take up 35% of those during the New Year holiday in 2019.
Beijing, the capital city saw 2.7 million tourists during the holiday, reaching 86.4% of those in the same period of 2019, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism.
China to reopen border between mainland and Hong Kong on Sunday

China is to reopen its border between the mainland and Hong Kong on Sunday after nearly three years’ closure.
The government will resume issuance of travel and business permits for residents of the mainland to Hong Kong, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council said in a statement on Thursday.
China will also stop testing visitors from Hong Kong although a negative test 48 hours before departure is still required.
Caps on flights between the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau will be scrapped and the number of flights will also increase “in a gradual and orderly manner”.
Standard Chartered becomes first foreign bank to trade treasury bond futures in China

Standard Chartered Bank (China) said on Wednesday it has completed its first treasury bond futures transaction, making it the first foreign bank to do so in China.
The treasury bond futures are an important interest risk management tool. The opening-up of the China’s treasury bond futures market will allow foreign investors to better participate in China’s domestic bond market and promote the further opening of China’s bond market and yuan’s internationalisation, the bank said in a statement.
China's factory activity contracts in December
China’s factory activity shrank in December as rising numbers of Covid infections continued to weigh on the world’s second largest economy.
The country’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dropped to 47 from November’s 48, data from the National Bureau of Statistics shhowed on Saturday. A reading above 50 represents expansion while a reading below 50 means contraction.
The drop was the sharpest of the year. Of the whole year, China’s manufacturing sector only expanded in January, Feburary, June and September.
The non-manufacturing PMI fell to 41.6 in December, down from November’s 46.7.
The service sector PMI dropped to 39.4, the lowest reading of the year.
China's New Year holiday home sales up 27.1%, survey

China’s new home sales rose 27.1% during the three-day New Year holiday from a year ago, according to a survey by China Index Academy.
Of the 22 cities surveyed by the China Index Academy, the average daily floor area sold grew 27.1% from the same period last year.
Major cities including Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai saw sales grew significantly during the holiday with home sales in Guangzhou jumping 131.5% from the same period last year.
Sales in Central China’s Wuhan rose 284%.
The property market in smaller cities remained weak with cities like the manufacturing hub Dongguan seeing sales fall 46.2%.
China delivers 2.1 bln parcels during New Year holiday

China’s express delivery sector handled more than 2.13 billion packages during the three-day New Year holiday, the State Post Bureau said on Monday.
More than 1.06 billion parcels were collected during the holiday, up 15.2% from the same period last year.
The packaged delivered grew 11.5% from last year to 1.07 billion.
China's railway cargo delivery up 4.7% in 2022

China’s railway cargo delivery volumn grew 4.7% year on year to 3.9 billion tonnes in 2022.
The total revenues of train freight delivery rose 9.8% to 478.6 billion yuan last year, China State Railway Group said on Tuesday.
Of the 3.9 billion tonnes freight transported by train, nearly 1.5 billion tonnes were thermal coal, up 13% from the previous year, according to the Group.
Third of the world to hit recession in 2023, IMF chief warns

One third of the world’s economy will be in recession this year, Kristalina Georgieva, Managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned.
In an interview with American TV network CBS news on Sunday, Georgieva said 2023 “is going to be tougher” than last year since the world’s major economies - the US, EU and China will see their economies slow down.
“Even countries that are not in recession, it would feel like recession for hundreds of millions of people,” she added.
The IMF cut its outlook for global growth to 2.7% in 2023 in October, citing rising inflation, the pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
US stocks down on first trading day in 2023

American main indexed closed lower on Tuesday, dragged down by Tesla and Apple on first trading day of the year, Reuters reported.
Tesla shares closed down 12% while Apple shares fell 3.7%.
The S&P 500 dropped 0.4% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.03%. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.76%.
Arab region economy to grow 4.5% in 2023, third of population poor, UN

The Arab region is expected to grow 4.5% in 2023 according to a survey by the UN.
Despite positive growth, more than one third of the region’s population is living in poverty, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) said in the survey.
The UN agency expected a further rise in poverty levels in the next two years, reaching 36% of the population in 2024.
Unemployment rate in the region, which reached 12% in 2022, the world’s highest, will drop slightly to 11.7% this year, the agency said.
The region’s inflation rate will drop to 8% this year from 14% in 2022.
Japan PM, central bank governor urge firms to raise wages

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urged companies to have pay increases that exceed inflation rate at a news conference on Wednesday.
Haruhiko Kuroda, governor of the Bank of Japan, also called for salaries raises to help keep inflation at its target of 2%, according to Reuters.
Their remarks came ahead of the annual wage negotiation between companies and labour unions, according to Reuters.
Kishida said pay failed to rise despite companies’ growing profits in the past 30 years.
