China, Asian nations to grow local currency use CHINA will work with Asian countries to beef up use of local currencies in trade and investment, Yi Gang, the governor of the central bank, said Wednesday, as part of plans to strengthen regional economic resilience. Recent years’ progress by emerging Asian nations in using local currencies in trade and investment has strengthened the region’s financial safety net against external shocks, Yi told an event of the G20 grouping. Iron ore traders urged to release inventory CHINA’S top economic planner has told some iron ore traders to release excessive inventory and restore stock to reasonable levels, it said in a statement Thursday following a joint investigation with the market regulator. The National Development and Reform Commission also asked traders to help verify whether there are any irregularities such as hoarding or driving up prices, it said in a statement, adding that authorities would strengthen market supervision. Air cargo transport nears pre-pandemic levels CHINA’S air cargo transport rebounded to near pre-pandemic levels in January, official data showed Wednesday. The volume of cargo and mail transported by air was approximately 654,000 tons in January, or 97.3 percent of the amount recorded in the same period in 2019, according to a Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) press conference. The degree of recovery expanded 6.6 percentage points from December 2021, the administration said. The January volume was a 1.1 percent increase from a month ago, but a 2.3 percent drop from the same period last year. Shimao plans to extend payments of trust loan DOMESTIC property developer Shimao Group plans to extend payments of a trust loan worth 6 billion yuan (US$947 million) by two years, it told an online meeting with creditors Wednesday, according to a memo and two sources who attended. The Shanghai-based developer, which defaulted on a trust loan last month, has been scrambling to extend debt with creditors and dispose of assets to raise funds. Shimao proposed to repay the principal and interest of the trust loan in question — of which 1.3 billion yuan became due Thursday, and the rest later this year — in stages in the coming three years, the sources said. The trust loan was used to finance a development in Shenzhen. | 