China asks officials to spend less on cigarettes, alcohol and travel; Here's why
China has instructed its officials once again to slash wasteful spends on travel, food as well office spaces, the official Xinhua News Agency said on Sunday.
As a the Bloomberg report quoting the Chinese news agency, the noticed issued by the government asks officials to specifically cut costs on alcohol and cigarettes.
The latest instructions, as per Bloomberg, comes as added signs of an austerity push by President Xi Jinping amid economic headwinds that strain government budgets.
The regulations also reinforce the ruling Communist Party's stance on officials having to reduce expenditure at a time when land sale revenues are declining, putting pressure on budget as local authorities stare at significant debts.
Chinese authorities in 2023 had asked its officials to embrace austerity measures, in a move to strengthen Jinping's drive to fight corruption.
The latest notice issued by the government for 'strict diligence and thrift, and opposes extravagance and waste,' as per the Chinese news agency. It reportedly added that 'waste is shameful and economy is glorious.'
Last year, Beijing kicked off its largest effort in years to address risks from local-authority debt, a move aimed at cutting default risks and giving local governments room to support economic growth.
A measure consumer staples stocks led was the biggest loser among the benchmark CSI 300 Index's sub-groups on Monday, slumping as much as 1.7 per cent, according to Bloomberg. Kweichow Moutai Co. retreated as much as 2.4 per cent, the most in six weeks.
Meanwhile, global investment banks are raising their forecasts for China's economic growth this year, after Beijing and Washington agreed to a 90-day pause on tariffs, despite uncertainty around Sino-US trade negotiations.
China's official target for full-year GDP is around 5.0 per cent. Citi has upgraded it to 4.7 per cent from 4.2 per cent, Goldman Sachs revised it to 4.6 per cent from 4.0 per cent and JP Morgan revised from 4.1 per cent to 4.8 per cent.
(With Bloomberg, Reuters inputs)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
4 minutes ago
- Time of India
US urges China to dissuade Iran from closing Strait of Hormuz
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday called on China to encourage Iran to not shut down the Strait of Hormuz after Washington carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear comments on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo" show came after Iran's Press TV reported that the Iranian parliament approved a measure to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of global oil and gas flows."I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them about that, because they heavily depend on the Straits of Hormuz for their oil," said Rubio, who also serves as national security adviser."If they do that, it will be another terrible mistake. It's economic suicide for them if they do it. And we retain options to deal with that, but other countries should be looking at that as well. It would hurt other countries' economies a lot worse than ours."Rubio said a move to close the strait would be a massive escalation that would merit a response from the U.S. and Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately provide comment.U.S. officials said it "obliterated" Iran's main nuclear sites using 14 bunker-buster bombs, more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles and over 125 military aircraft. The strikes mark an escalation in the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict Tehran has vowed to defend itself. Rubio on Sunday warned against retaliation, saying such an action would be "the worst mistake they've ever made."He added that the U.S. is prepared to talk with Iran.
NDTV
16 minutes ago
- NDTV
"Economic Suicide": Marco Rubio On Possible Strait Of Hormuz Closure By Iran
New Delhi: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged China to encourage Iran to not shut down the oil corridor Strait of Hormuz, a possibility that several reports indicated after US strikes on Iran's three nuclear facilities. Speaking to Fox News, Mr Rubio said, "I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them about that, because they heavily depend on the Straits of Hormuz for their oil." "If they do that, it will be another terrible mistake. It's economic suicide for them if they do it. And we retain options to deal with that, but other countries should be looking at that as well. It would hurt other countries' economies a lot worse than ours," he added. Around 20 per cent of the world's oil and gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz. It connects the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. The narrow channel, approximately 33 km wide at the narrowest point, separates Iran (north) from the Arabian Peninsula (south). Rubio's remarks came hours after US sent B-2 stealth bombers into Iranian territory and destroyed the country's three nuclear facilities - Fordow, Ifshahan and Natanz. The strikes involved the deployment of 14 bunker-buster bombs, more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles and over 125 military aircraft. "We'll judge them (Iran) by actions moving forward. If they want to negotiate, we will negotiate. If they want to do things that are dangerous, we have responses available," he said.
Time of India
29 minutes ago
- Time of India
World Bank and IMF climate snub 'worrying', says COP29 presidency
The hosts of the most recent UN climate talks are worried international lenders are retreating from their commitments to help boost funding for developing countries' response to global warming. Major development banks have agreed to boost climate spending and are seen as crucial in the effort to dramatically increase finance to help poorer countries build resilience to impacts and invest in renewable energy. But anxiety has grown as the Trump administration has slashed foreign aid and discouraged US-based development lenders such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund from focussing on climate finance. Developing nations, excluding China, will need an estimated $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 in financial assistance to transition to renewable energy and climate-proof their economies from increasing weather extremes. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Buy Brass Laxmi Ji Idol For Wealth, Peace & Happiness Luxeartisanship Shop Now Undo Nowhere near this amount has been committed. At last year's UN COP29 summit in Azerbaijan, rich nations agreed to increase climate finance to $300 billion a year by 2035, an amount decried as woefully inadequate. Azerbaijan and Brazil, which is hosting this year's COP30 conference, have launched an initiative to reduce the shortfall, with the expectation of "significant" contributions from international lenders. But so far only two -- the African Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank -- have responded to a call to engage the initiative with ideas, said COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev. "We call on their shareholders to urgently help us to address these concerns," he told climate negotiators at a high-level summit in the German city of Bonn this week. "We fear that a complex and volatile global environment is distracting" many of those expected to play a big role in bridging the climate finance gap , he added. - A 'worrisome trend' - His team travelled to Washington in April for the IMF and World Bank's spring meetings hoping to find the same enthusiasm for climate lending they had encountered a year earlier. But instead they found institutions "very much reluctant now to talk about climate at all", said Azerbaijan's top climate negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev. This was a "worrisome trend", he said, given expectations these lenders would extend the finance needed in the absence of other sources. "They're very much needed," he said. The World Bank is directing 45 percent of its total lending to climate, as part of an action plan in place until June 2026, with the public portion of that spilt 50/50 between emissions reductions and building resilience. The United States, the World Bank's biggest shareholder, has pushed in a different direction. On the sidelines of the April spring meetings, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the bank to focus on "dependable technologies" rather than "distortionary climate finance targets." This could mean investing in gas and other fossil fuel-based energy production, he said. Under the Paris Agreement, wealthy developed countries -- those most responsible for global warming to date -- are obliged to pay climate finance to poorer nations. Other countries, most notably China, make voluntary contributions. - Money matters - Finance is a source of long-running tensions at UN climate negotiations. Donors have consistently failed to deliver on past finance pledges, and have committed well below what experts agree developing nations need to cope with the climate crisis. The issue flared up again this week in Bonn, with nations at odds over whether to debate financial commitments from rich countries during the formal meetings. European nations have also pared back their foreign aid spending in recent months, raising fears that budgets for climate finance could also face a haircut. At COP29, multilateral development banks (MDBs) led by the World Bank Group estimated they could provide $120 billion annually in climate financing to low and middle income countries, and mobilise another $65 billion from the private sector by 2030. Their estimate for high income countries was $50 billion, with another $65 billion mobilised from the private sector. Rob Moore, of policy think tank E3G, said these lenders are the largest providers of international public finance to developing countries. "Whilst they are facing difficult political headwinds in some quarters, they would be doing both themselves and their clients a disservice by disengaging on climate change," he said. The World Bank in particular has done "a huge amount of work" to align its lending with global climate goals. "If they choose to step back this would be at their own detriment, and other banks like the regionally based MDBs would likely play a bigger role in shaping the economy of the future," he said. The World Bank declined to comment on the record.
