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China will allow couples to have three children, loosening its historic family planning policies in the face of a looming demographic crisis just weeks after reporting that its population grew at the slowest rate in decades.

The Chinese Communist party’s politburo concluded that the new “three-child policy” was intended to “actively address the ageing population and maintain China’s natural advantage in human resources”, according to Xinhua, the state media agency. It was unclear when the policy would take effect.

Experts, the public and China’s central bank have called for the government to abolish birth limits entirely after the census published this month showed the population grew 5.4 per cent from 1.34bn in 2010 to 1.41bn in 2020 — the lowest rate of increase between censuses since the People’s Republic of China began collecting data in 1953.

Beijing has been unwilling to break with the decades-old population control apparatus used to enforce a widely unpopular one-child policy, often employing brutal means, including forced abortions and sterilisations. Abolishing population controls would mean having to repurpose a huge part of its civil service, as well as suggest an embarrassing about-turn.

Coronavirus digest

• Hong Kong has exempted senior financial executives and directors of some listed companies from its harsh border quarantine rules.

• India’s economy expanded 1.6 per cent year on year between January and March, in a sign that economic activity was recovering steadily before the country was battered by a second wave of coronavirus infections in April.

• Brazil has stepped in to host the Copa America football tournament, despite suffering one of the world’s worst Covid crises and facing a looming third wave.

• Australia’s Qantas Airways is touting cheaper airfares and the prospect of unlimited flights to customers who have taken Covid-19 jabs, as the country’s businesses turn to creative means to counter vaccine hesitancy.

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In the news

EY Europe revamp has partners worried over Wirecard damage Accountancy group EY is to centralise power in a new European executive team, pooling resources across the region but raising concern that any financial hit from the Wirecard scandal might also be shared.

Share price ‘pop’ in US IPOs falls by half Investors are no longer falling over themselves to put money into US initial public offerings, reducing the chances that a company will be able to price their shares above expectations or enjoy a big share price “pop” on their first day of trading.

China trying to undermine security in region, warns Morrison Beijing is attempting to undermine the close relationship between Australia and New Zealand amid growing tensions in the Asia Pacific, Australia prime minister Scott Morrison has warned.

Cash shortage threatens a banking crisis in Myanmar Since the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in February and tens of thousands of people walked off their jobs, banks have placed caps on withdrawals, causing crowds to gather at bank branches every day. The country’s central bank is still not providing banks with enough cash to meet demand, according to bankers, foreign observers and businesspeople.

Brexit shrank UK services exports by £110bn, academics find Experts at Aston University in Birmingham found that UK services exports from 2016 to 2019 were cumulatively £113bn lower than they would have been had the UK not voted to quit the EU in June 2016, highlighting the far-reaching trade implications of Britain’s decision to break away from the EU.

Texas Democrats block proposed law that would restrict voting rights The Democrats blocked a final vote on a law that would tighten voting restrictions in the US’s second most-populous state, after staging a late-night walkout from the legislature following hours of tense debate. The move denied the Republican majority a chance to pass the bill ahead of a midnight deadline that marked the end of the legislative session.

The day ahead

Australian cash rate decision The country’s central bank will announce its rate decision on Monday as it faces pressure to taper emergency measures. (Bloomberg)

What else we’re reading

How Biden came around to the Wuhan lab-leak theory The belief that Covid escaped from a Chinese laboratory is no longer being dismissed as a Trump provocation. As Demetri Sevastopulo writes from Washington, the order by US president Joe Biden for US intelligence to intensify efforts to determine the origins of Covid-19 has given fresh life to the theory that the virus may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Inside Iranian reformers’ battle for change After decades of struggle, activists in the theocratic state are rethinking their tactics. The line-up of candidates for the June 18 election has reinforced a sense of hopelessness as the leading moderate candidates have been barred and the two reform candidates have yet to gain momentum.

China’s wolf warriors bristle at Covid blame The slump in relations between China and Australia sounds like a small detail in the great picture of world affairs. But this is a corner of the canvas that merits close attention. It provided an early indication of China’s extreme sensitivity to international calls for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19, writes Gideon Rachman.

Investors weigh whether to cash in on stock profits Equities investors are sitting on solid returns since the start of the year, leading them to ask one of the oldest questions in finance: should they take their profits before the summer holidays kick into full gear? It’s spurred discussion about whether taking some chips off the table before the summer revs up is a successful strategy. Chris Flood investigates.

Tulsa’s ‘Black Wall Street’ teaches us about racial economic discrimination While the US will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa massacre as a singular atrocity, the actions of the mob demonstrate a longstanding tradition. For black Americans, economic prosperity can prove fatal, writes Ashley Howard, assistant professor of history at the University of Iowa.

The 2020s: a decisive economic decade for the UK The decade will determine whether we have a chance of averting irreversible damage to the climate. But for the UK, this comes together with other big challenges. Its response will also determine what happens to the wellbeing of its people, writes Martin Wolf.

Comment of the day

Last week, following Joshua Chaffin’s story on commuters, we asked readers how they made their commute tolerable as many prepare to return to the office in the coming months. Here’s what one of our FirstFT readers said:

“Taking the passenger ferry across the Hudson from New Jersey [is] incredibly efficient and well-run, almost always on time, and being outside on the upper deck is a great way to blow away the cobwebs in the morning, or the remnants of a day in the city,” — Chris Russell-Wood on making the work commute tolerable before Covid-19.