trillion. that is almost the size of japan s economy. beijing has since restricted how much these developers can borrow, and it has also proposed introducing a local property tax but the move will be very controversial because local governments rely on land sales or revenue. local investors and a commissar worried that these issues facing developers may make consumers even more reluctant to buy property in an economy where real estate has really been a major driver for growth, and already we have seen property sales and prices falling in september, which has been somewhat unheard of due to the property boom, so it s certainly fresh concerns after a trading halt of kaisa group. mariko oi, thank you for that update. the pound slumped as much as 1.5% against the us dollar on thursday, its biggest fall since the beginning of the pandemic in march 2020. that s after the bank