Yuan sinks on economy woes

The yuan plunged to a nearly one-and-a-half-year low on worries about the Chinese economy. The onshore yuan closed at 6.6115 against the US dollar yesterday, the lowest since mid-November 2020.

This came as China's central bank set up a 200 billion yuan (HK$237.27 billion) refinancing facility to support technology firms.

The People's Bank of China announced it will set up the refinancing loan with the aim to promote innovation in the tech sector. The loan has a capacity of 200 billion yuan, an interest rate of 1.75 percent and a maturity of one year, with two extensions.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's exports may be further impacted after plunging in March by the most since October 2020 as Covid restrictions in China weighed on the flow of goods.

Exports fell 8.9 percent last month from a year earlier, the Census and Statistics Department said yesterday.

A government spokesman said that the value of merchandise exports turned to a year-on-year decrease in March amid moderate external demand and Covid-induced disruptions to cross-border cargo flows between the mainland and Hong Kong.