Image: Phuong Uyen Vo Hoang via Unsplash
Welcome to China Business News, NEO’s weekly roundup of top business developments as reported by news outlets in China and the region.
This week’s highlights:
- The unemployment rate of young people aged 16-24 in China remains at an all-time high. Researchers at the China Macroeconomic Forum (CMF) hosted by the People’s University of China said that the high youth unemployment rate is an international phenomenon, but it doesn’t make the situation in China look any better. Unemployment among the country’s youth was 4.35 times higher than that of people over 25 years old, according to a survey conducted in August. Economists in China have called for policy changes to address the problem. (Caixin)
- The U.S. introduced a new round of export control measures to limit China’s purchase of high-end chips, leading Chinese semiconductor stocks to fall dramatically on Monday. According to analysts, the new measures will have a tremendos impact on China and cause the global semiconductor industry to suffer a major setback. Notably, the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation — a partially state-owned publicly listed Chinese pure-play semiconductor foundry company and the largest contract chip maker in mainland China — may see its growth drop 50% in 2023. (The United Morning Post)
- The RMB/USD exchange rate broke 7.2 again overnight. Earlier this week, the Monetary Policy Department of the People’s Bank of China published an article on its official WeChat account, stressing that there is solid foundation for the RMB exchange rate to maintain basic stability at a reasonably balanced level after withstanding multiple rounds of external shocks. Officials suggested that two-way fluctuations are absolutely normal, and that there will be no “unilateral market.” (Sina Finance)