China’s Covid lockdowns, housing crisis priority for Yellen ahead of G20 meetings
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will seek information on China’s Covid lockdown policy and its struggling real estate sector at a meeting with the head of the country’s central bank this week, according to senior Treasury Department officials.
Information on both of those issues could help the US administration get a better handle on the prospects for the world’s second-biggest economy, the officials told reporters in Bali, Indonesia, where world leaders will meet for a G20 starting Tuesday – Summit gather. Officials asked not to be named as a condition of the briefing.
President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet in Bali on Monday, the first face-to-face meeting between leaders of nations since the pandemic began.
Yellen is expected to attend this gathering and hold her own meetings, including one with Yi Gang, the governor of the People’s Bank of China. Yi is expected to resign early next year after resigning from the Communist Party’s elite Central Committee in October at a congress held twice every decade.
On Friday, the Xi government eased its Covid-zero policy, which has slowed China’s economy, disrupted global supply chains and angered its citizens. On the same day, the People’s Bank of China and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission unveiled a sweeping rescue package to rescue a real estate market mired in a record slowdown.
Yellen will also meet French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and Italian Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti.
Officials said the focus of these meetings will be to keep sanctions pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and to encourage Europeans to offer Ukraine as much aid as possible.
The US has offered the biggest economic aid, already providing $8.5 billion, with another $4.5 billion being moved over the next two to three months, they said.
Officials said aid to Ukraine from Europe has been strong so far, but they worried whether they could provide enough in the coming months to keep up with funding needs in the embattled country.
Officials stressed uncertainty about those needs, which could be affected by Russian military attacks, and whether Moscow will agree to another deal designed to allow Ukraine to export grain.
There is a risk that the US and its allies will fall short of Ukraine’s needs, the officials said.
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