MNI China Press Digest Dec 12: Yuan, Labour, Property

Highlights from Chinese press reports on Friday:

• Authorities will aim to prevent both excessive depreciation and appreciation of the yuan, thereby curbing pro-cyclical herd behaviour, said Guan Tao, a former senior official at the State Administration For Foreign Exchange, following the Central Economic Work Conference’s emphasis on keeping the yuan exchange rate broadly stable at a reasonable and balanced level. Ming Ming, chief economist at CITIC Securities, expects the currency to appreciate moderately if domestic policies gradually restore economic momentum. Internal and external forces could reinforce one another and potentially push the yuan below the 7.0 threshold, he added. Sun Binbin, chief economist at Caitong Securities, added that the yuan’s relatively weak performance against non-USD currencies in the first half of the year has created room for a catch-up. He expects 7.0 to act as the key threshold in the first half of 2026, with a possible “break of 7” in the second half. (Yicai)
• China must increase its social security provision for its 200 million flexible employees, according to Zhang Chenggang, director at the China New Employment Forms Research Center, noting that the move would strengthen protection against income volatility, health risks and career transitions. His comments follow the Central Economic Work Conference, which called for stabilising employment for key groups such as college graduates and migrant workers. Experts interviewed by Yicai said that new forms of employment have fundamentally reshaped labour relations, making traditional frameworks inadequate. They stressed that policymakers must adjust and revise social security policies and labour laws, actively lower participation thresholds, offer insurance subsidies and expand coverage so that as many workers as possible can participate in the social insurance system.
• Next year, supply-side reform of the property market will focus more on controlling new supply, reducing inventory and improving quality, while integrating efforts to revitalise existing housing stock, according to industry insiders interviewed by Yicai. At the same time, experts said that high-quality urban renewal will play a bigger role in stabilising the housing market. Li Yujia, chief researcher at the Guangdong Housing Policy Research Center, emphasised that the housing provident fund system serves as the sector’s core inclusive-finance tool, yet many cities still underuse individual provident fund loans. To fix this, policymakers must accelerate fund deployment, improve conditions for cross-regional lending and expand support for new housing models that combine renting and buying, Li added.