PANDEMIC-HIT Shanghai has unveiled more post-lockdown plans today (May 26) as it moves towards a return to normalcy although a country-wide economic recovery is still a distance away thus heightening a sense of urgency for more support, said Reuters.
Home to 25 million people, the city – which is set to officially emerge from lockdown on June 1 – has been cautiously easing COVID-19 curbs, allowing more of its population to venture out and putting more vehicles back onto its streets.
According to officials in the city, students in junior and senior high school can return to offline classes from June 6, following word earlier in the week that shopping malls and department stores will be allowed to reopen (in batches) from June 1.
News reports indicate that Shanghai reported 338 new locally transmitted infections for May 25, the lowest since mid-March and a far cry from the tens of thousands seen at the peak of its outbreak in April.
Offering a grim view of the world’s second-biggest economy, Premier Li Keqiang said on Wednesday that its difficulties in some aspects were even bigger than in 2020, when China was first hit by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Many private-sector economists expect gross domestic product to contract in April-June from a year earlier versus the first quarter’s 4.8% growth.
China will strive to achieve “reasonable” gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the second quarter, Li told thousands of government officials across the country in an online conference, as reported by Reuters.
Meanwhile, the central bank said on Thursday that it would promote more credit for smaller firms and urged financial institutions to prioritise lending to central and western regions as well as areas and sectors hammered by COVID-19 outbreaks.
The finance ministry also said on Thursday it would offer subsidies to Chinese airlines from May 21 to July 20 to help them weather the coronavirus-induced downturn and higher oil prices.
Domestic air traffic has plummeted because of lockdowns in Shanghai and surrounding cities. Shanghai-based China Eastern said passenger numbers sank 90.7% in April from a year earlier.
According to China’s aviation regulator, overall air passenger traffic last month plunged nearly 85% year-on-year, and stood at barely 15% of its pre-COVID-19 level in 2019.
Offering a glimmer of hope, the China Passenger Car Association said on Thursday that national vehicle sales rose 34% in the first three weeks of May compared with the corresponding period in April. read more
However, with measures to control the COVID-19 outbreaks depressing incomes, the industry association warned that the sales volume was still 16% lower than 12 months earlier.
Road freight transportation and express delivery from distribution centres last week were both stronger than a month earlier but still down sharply on the year, Nomura Global Economics said.
“As long as China does not relax its COVID-19 policy, any other policy measures are of little value right now,” an automotive fastener factory owner in the eastern province of Zhejiang was quoted as saying by Reuters.
“Everybody has little confidence or enthusiasm to invest now.” – May 26, 2022
