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Finance Minister Removed from Post
Xinhua News Agency August 30, 2007 - Finance Minister Jin Renqing was
removed from his post on Thursday by China's national legislature. Xie
Xuren, 59, director of the State Administration of Taxation, was
appointed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to
replace 63-year-old Jin. President Hu Jintao signed a presidential
decree of approval for this replacement and made it public the same day.
Central bank raises interest rates
July 23, 2007 - China decided to
raise interest rates and cut the withholding tax on interest income
on Friday in a coordinated move to get the blistering economy onto a
healthier footing. The benchmark one-year deposit and lending rates
of commercial banks will be raised by 0.27 percentage point,
effective from Saturday, the central bank said in a statement on its
website. (Click the title of this news for full report.)
China's GDP grows 11.5 percent in first half
year
July 19, 2007 - China''s gross
domestic product (GDP) rose 11.5 percent in the first half of the
year, after it grew 11.9 percent in the second quarter, official
figures revealed on Thursday.The growth rate for the first half is
0.5 percentage points higher than the same period last year and much
faster than the planned eight percent, spokesman Li Xiaochao with
the National Bureau of Statistics told a press conference. (Please
click title of this news for full coverage.)
China outlines new policies for finance
industry, Jan. 20, 2007
China hikes bank reserve
ratio to cool investment
China
Daily, April 29, 2007 - China's central bank Sunday raised the amount
of money banks must set aside in reserves, reducing the money
available for lending, in the latest move to rein in the investment
boom. "The increase is aimed at stepping up liquidity management of
the banking system and to guide a reasonable growth of credit," said
the statement. That marked the seventh hike in less than a year in
addition to three interest rate increases as regulators try to prevent
the economy from overheating. China's economy surged 11.1 percent in
the first quarter of this year after growing 10.7 percent in 2006, as
shown in official statistics. (Click
for full report.)
What to do with US$1 trillion
of forex reserves?
People's Daily, Jan. 18, 2006 - Figures released by the
People's Bank of China on January 15
show that at the end of December 2006, China's foreign exchange
reserves totaled US$1.0663 trillion, an increase of 30.22 percent from
2005. During the last two years, China's foreign exchange reserves
have grown by US$200 billion annually. Last February, China overtook
Japan as the country with the largest foreign exchange reserves in the
world. (Click
for full report)
Regulations
for overseas stock exchanges' agencies
Xinhua
Jan. 14, 2006 - China will not approve the establishment of overseas
bourses' agencies before regulations on the management of the business are
made, a senior securities regulatory official said Saturday. The country
is mulling over measures to regulate overseas bourses' agencies in the
country, Tu Guangshao, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory
Commission (CSRC) said. Applications of overseas stock exchanges to set
agencies in China will be examined and approved only after the regulations
come out, said Tu, without elaboration. Earlier reports said that China
has granted applications of the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq
Stock Market. Stock exchanges from the United States, Britain, Singapore
and the Republic of Korea have launched a series of promotions in China
over recent years, encouraging local enterprises to go public there.
However, analysts worry that overseas listing of domestic companies,
especially those report outstanding performance and with high-growth
potentials, will slower the growth of China's capital market.
Stock Index Ends
2006 on All-time High
Dec. 30, 2006 = China's stock market soared to an
all-time high on the last trading day of 2006 as a flood of fresh
investment funds boosted the benchmark index up 4.2 percent and brought
its total gain for the year to 127 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index
closed at 2,675.474 points on Friday with the second-biggest daily
percentage rise this year. Turnover in Shanghai A shares was 58.75 billion
yuan (US$7.5 billion). This is the second-highest level this year. (Click
for full report)
China's foreign debts exceed US$300
billion
At the end of September this year, China's outstanding foreign debts
amounted to US$304.976 billion (excluding those of Hong Kong, Macao and
Taiwan regions), which is $23.931 billion or 8.52 percent more than at the
end of 2005, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange announced in
Beijing on Thursday. Medium and long-term debts accounted for $136.387
billion, an increase of $11.485 billion. Short-term debts comprised
$168.589 billion or 55.28 percent of the total. Of the total $207.876 of
registered debts, sovereign debt ¨C borrowed by ministries under the State
Council ¨C was $33.888 billion, 16.3 percent of the total, while the
amount borrowed by financial institutions was $66.041 billion, or 31.77
percent. Foreign-funded enterprises borrowed $57.227 billion, accounting
for 27.53 percent, and debt owed by foreign financial institutions in
China reached $46.707 billion, 22.47 percent. Domestic enterprises
borrowed $3.746 billion, or 1.8 percent of the total; leasing companies
borrowed $97.1 billion and other institutions $267 million.
China's end-June foreign
debt hits $297.9 bln
Reuters, Sep. 30, 2006 - In a statement on its Web site (www.safe.gov.cn),
the foreign exchange regulator said short-term foreign debt had risen
6.5 percent at the end of June to $166.3 billion from the end of 2005.
China's foreign debt rose
6.01 percent in the first half of the year to reach $297.9 billion at the end of June.
Reuters Sep. 30, 2006, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange
said on Saturday.
Global Public Tender Platform
Now Available in Chinese
China
today announced the launch of
www.toubiao.info, a Web portal
dedicated to facilitating international bidding and tenders
transactions. The solution is the brainchild of the Development
Gateway Foundation (www.dgmarket.com)
under the World Bank, China Development Gateway (www.chinagate.com.cn)
and China Bidding Ltd (www.chinabidding.com.cn).
(Click
for full report)
Is China's 10.9% growth rate
overheating?
People's Daily
Online, July 21, 2006 - On July 18th, the
National Bureau of Statistics issued the latest economic data for the
first half of the year. According to the statistics, China's GDP grew by
10.9 percent, 0.9 percentage points faster than the same period of last
year. Fixed assets investment increased by 29.8%, 4.4 percentage points
faster than the same period of last year. If this is true, how are we to
understand China's economic performance in the first half of the year?
What is the trend for the next half? The reporter has invited several
experts to answer these questions. (Click
for full report)
China adjusts bank quotas for overseas investment
July
21, 2006 - China's foreign exchange regulator said on Friday that it
had approved US$4.8 billion in quotas for three banks to invest abroad
under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) scheme. The
approval paves the way for the formal start of a regime for allowing
financial institutions in China to invest their clients' funds in
overseas markets, which analysts say will help ease some of the upward
pressure on the yuan. (Click
for full report)
China's forex reserves exceed $900 bln
June 13,
2006 - China's foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest, have
risen above $900 billion as a result of the nation's growing trade
surplus, a senior government official said on Monday. (Click
for full report.)
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