The activities of China's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) picked up in January, as the country's economy continued to recover steadily, according to the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Index, calculated based on a survey of 3,000 SMEs in China, came in at 88.9 last month, reversing a downward trend. The figure was up 1 point from December 2022, the largest increase over the past two years.
Outstanding loans by Chinese banks to small and micro businesses stood at 59.7 trillion yuan (8.76 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2022, according to data by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.
Non-performing loans of commercial banks amounted to 3 trillion yuan at the end of December, down 8.3 billion yuan from the previous quarter. The non-performing loan ratio of commercial banks was 1.63 percent at the end of December, down 0.02 percentage points from the end of September.
Total assets of Chinese banking institutions in local and foreign currencies amounted to 379.4 trillion yuan at the end of last year, up 10% year on year
China's machinery industry has picked up its pace of recovery and is expected to achieve steady growth this year, according to the China Machinery Industry Federation. In 2022, the sector's operating revenues totaled 28.9 trillion yuan (about 4.24 trillion U.S. dollars), up 9.6% year on year, according to data from the federation.
Chinese machinery industry has shown strong resilience, huge potential, and great vitality amid headwinds, with the automobile, electrical appliances, and other manufacturing sectors posting stable operations since the beginning of this year.
Initial public offerings (IPOs) of Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) companies on the Chinese mainland surged in the second half of 2022, according to data from global auditing and consultancy firm PwC. The number of listed TMT companies stood at 124 during this period, 56 more than that in the first half of the year, raising about 133.5 billion yuan (about 19.58 billion U.S. dollars).
According to the data, 39 companies got the green light on the tech-focused STAR Market, raising 74.1 billion yuan, and 35 others got listed on the start-up board ChiNext, raising 40.2 billion yuan. The technical hardware and equipment sectors saw 77 IPOs, 62% of the total, while the rest came from the software, service, and media sectors.