The September Loan Prime Rate (LPR) has been announced, with both the one-year and five-year-plus tenors maintaining their previous levels. Tax revenue collected by tax authorities in the first eight months grew by 5.9% year-on-year. Additionally, total electricity consumption across society from January to August reached 71.73 trillion kilowatt-hours, reflecting a 4.3% increase compared to the same period last year.
The People's Bank of China announced that the September one-year LPR stands at 3.0%, while the five-year-plus LPR is set at 3.5%, with both remaining unchanged. According to the latest tax data released by the State Taxation Administration, tax revenue collected nationwide in the first eight months increased by 5.9% year-on-year. The data indicates that during this period, the Producer Price Index (PPI), which is closely correlated with tax revenue, rose by 2% cumulatively, contributing to the relatively fast growth in tax revenue calculated at current prices.
According to a statement on the Ministry of Commerce website, the head of the Consumer Promotion Department discussed China's consumer market performance from January to August 2026. During this period, total retail sales of consumer goods and services grew by 2.5% year-on-year, with the consumer market showing steady improvement and ongoing optimization of the consumption structure.
On September 20, data from the National Energy Administration revealed that electricity consumption for the entire society surpassed one trillion kilowatt-hours again in August 2026, reaching 1,033.2 billion kilowatt-hours, a 1.7% year-on-year increase. The electricity load hit a record high of 1.56 billion kilowatts, which is 49.69 million kilowatts higher than the previous year's peak, with a total of seven days exceeding the prior year's maximum load. For the January-August period, cumulative electricity consumption amounted to 71.73 trillion kilowatt-hours, up 4.3% year-on-year.
The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology and the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission recently issued the "Beijing Action Plan for Accelerating the Development of the Token Economy (2026-2028)." The plan proposes building token factories to high standards. It includes formulating a tiered evaluation standard for token factories in Beijing, covering core technical indicators such as model adaptation quantity, token throughput speed, first-token latency, cache hit rate, and Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), along with optimizing guarantees for land resources, energy consumption indicators, and communication networks, while providing support for token factories with industry-leading influence. The plan also promotes breakthroughs in key core technologies, accelerates iteration of foundational models to enhance their intelligence ceiling, drives model-chip adaptation and optimization, supports research on inference-specific chips, model lightweighting, and edge deployment, and aims to elevate the overall capacity for token production through high-level construction and deployment of intelligent computing resources.
At 12:03 on September 20, China successfully launched nine satellites using the Lijian-1 Y18 carrier rocket from the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Zone. The satellites include the Qinling 01 and 02, Pujiang-4, Pengcheng Shoufa, Diting 01 A/B/C, Super Intelligent Computing-1, and Yunxiao Pathfinder satellites, all of which entered their预定 orbits, marking a complete success for the mission.
On September 20, Shu Wei, spokesperson for the State Administration for Market Regulation and deputy director, stated at a State Council Information Office press conference that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, efforts will be accelerated to revise the Pricing Law. Regulations on curbing low-price dumping activities will be studied and formulated, with guidance for relevant industry associations to establish cost measurement standards, ultimately forming a "1+1+N" legal framework for regulating low-price dumping. The administration will take the lead in conducting cost investigations and price inspections on enterprises engaged in malicious low-price competition that disrupt the production and operation order, and handle such cases strictly according to law. It will also promote the implementation of pricing behavior rules for internet platforms, continuously standardize price competition in the platform economy, study and formulate interim regulations for a price supervisor system, and consolidate the primary responsibility of enterprises for price compliance.
Also on September 20, Yang Sheng, deputy director of the National Medical Products Administration, stated at the same press conference that support will be provided for the large-scale, intensive, and high-end development of the pharmaceutical industry. The administration encourages pharmaceutical companies to build smart factories and green factories, continues to support the development of the pharmaceutical industry in regions such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone, and aims to cultivate three to five internationally competitive innovation clusters for the biopharmaceutical industry. It will also support the expansion of opening-up and cooperation in the pharmaceutical field, encourage foreign investment to bring original innovative drugs and high-end medical equipment into domestic production, and also encourage Chinese companies to go global, so that Chinese drugs and devices can benefit people worldwide.
On September 20, the Jinan Housing Provident Fund Center issued a notice on the business of withdrawing housing provident funds for home decoration, implementing the provisions of the newly revised "Housing Provident Fund Management Regulations" that allow withdrawal of stored balances for decorating self-owned residences. The notice clarifies two scenarios for withdrawal eligibility and stipulates that the amount is calculated at 1,500 yuan per square meter based on the registered floor area on the real estate ownership certificate, with a total withdrawal cap not exceeding 200,000 yuan. The notice comes into effect from September 20, 2026.
According to information from Zhishen Technology on September 20, the company has completed a Series B strategic financing of several hundred million yuan. This round was led by Stone Venture (Leishi Capital) from the UAE, with participation from investment institutions including Hongshan Capital, Yueke Financial, Wuzhong Yueyue, and Wuzhong Jinkong, as well as industrial investors such as Neusoft Group, Haopeng Technology, Yuanjian Capital, and Riying Electronics.
On September 20, at the 2026 World Manufacturing Convention held in Hefei, Anhui Province, it was reported that Changxin Technology's fifth-generation DRAM technology platform has officially entered mass production.
Multiple US embassies in the Middle East issued new security alerts on September 19, warning that the military conflict between the Yemeni Houthi forces and Saudi Arabia could "escalate rapidly."
The French Ministry of Economy and Finance stated on September 19 that France's public debt as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) continues to rise, projected to reach 119.3% in 2026 and further increase to 121.7% in 2027.
A large-scale power outage occurred in the greater Buenos Aires area of Argentina on the evening of September 19, leaving more than 77,000 users without electricity.
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