While international attention has been focused on the drama surrounding Greece's future in Europe, China is experiencing its most serious economic crisis in decades. The country's stock markets have been in a perilous decline. Government action has thus far proven unable to halt the downward spiral. Coming amid a more general slowdown, there is great concern in China and abroad about the impact of this plunge and whether it will become a political challenge to the government in Beijing.
Share prices on the exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzen have fallen about 30 percent since June 12, the sharpest decline in over two decades. It is reckoned that the combined losses in value have reached $3 trillion. By midweek, more than 900 companies, more than a third of the firms listed on the two exchanges, representing about $1.5 billion in value, had suspended trading in their shares.
The government has tried various measures to stem the slide. Taking a page from Hong Kong's response to the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, the Securities Association of China announced that 21 of the country's biggest brokerage firms would launch a 120 billion RMB fund ($19.3 billion) to buy shares in the largest companies and would stop selling shares from their own portfolios. The Asset Management Association of China, another government-backed institution, announced that 25 of the country's largest mutual funds would speed up the issuance of funds to invest in stocks.
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