China launches $52.5 billion SOE restructuring fund

China has launched a 350 billion yuan ($52.5 billion) state enterprise restructuring fund to advance its ‘supply-side’ reforms as the world’s second-largest economy undergoes its most significant transformation in two decades. Earlier this year, China said it was planning to allocate 100 billion yuan to help local authorities and SOEs finance layoffs in its struggling coal and steel industries. Up to 1.8 million people in the sectors could lose their jobs, official estimates showed. The capital raised by the China State-owned Enterprises Restructuring Fund will focus on boosting the competitiveness of some SOEs and their international operations, including overseas acquisitions, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), which will manage the fund, said, according to Reuters.