China orders banks to disinfect cash, PBoC will destroy some current currency amid coronavirus

With 1,700 deaths and confirmed cases topping 71,000, the Wuhan coronavirus is sending China into a downward spiral.

Beijing is trying everything to stave off the economic fallout from the outbreak. The government has unleashed several fiscal stimulus measures, while the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has been injecting tens of billions of dollars into the world’s second-largest economy.

But the central bank is employing another measure: disinfectant.

The PBoC has ordered banks to disinfect their deposits with ultraviolet light and wait until at least a week before they release them into the public. It also plans to dish out 600 billion yuan, while destroying some of the current currency in circulation.

Financial institutions are probably more concerned about the hundreds of billions of dollars worth of bad debt and the non-performing loans they have to hold until the whole thing blows over.