China stepped up its economic stimulus with a further RMB 1 trillion ($146 billion) of funding largely focused on infrastructure spending, support that likely won’t go far enough to counter the damage from repeated Covid lockdowns and a property market slump, reports Bloomberg.
The State Council, China’s Cabinet, outlined a 19-point policy package on Wednesday, including another RMB 300 billion that state policy banks can invest in infrastructure projects, on top of RMB 300 billion already announced at the end of June. Local governments will be allocated RMB 500 billion of special bonds from previously unused quotas.
At a meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, the State Council vowed to make use of “tools available in the toolbox” to maintain a reasonable policy scale in a timely and decisive manner, according to a readout from state broadcaster CCTV. Economists were relatively downbeat on the measures, while financial markets were muted.