Business

Although the lockdowns in China are putting even more pressure on the logistics chain for imports and exports, they are not immediately causing huge problems. That is what sector organizations for entrepreneurs and transport say after a call to the ANP.   The logistics chain was already suffering from disruptions due to the corona pandemic; the war in Ukraine was added to this, and now also the new lockdowns in China. Shanghai, among others, with the world's largest container port, has been in lockdown for weeks due to corona infections. An interest group of forwarders Fenex says that "the entire market is on the drip". "The closure of the city of Shanghai does not help," said chairman Ad Schoenmakers. According to him, the idea was that the market would stabilize at the end of thi...

The Chinese central bank PBOC has not cut its interest rates against expectations. However, the economy in China is under pressure due to a flare-up of the corona epidemic.   Beijing is reducing the cash reserves that banks must hold. The measure will come into effect from April 25, the central bank announced on Friday. Lenders will therefore be able to provide cheaper loans to support the economy. The PBOC maintained the yield on one-year policy bonds at 2.85 percent on Friday. That was against analysts' expectations, who had expected a cut in interest rates. Growth expectations for China have already been revised downwards significantly this year. Economists are currently forecasting 5 percent growth, below the government's target of 5.5 percent.