Archive for the 'Economics & Trade' Category

Taiwan formally OKs China financial investment rules

The Financial Supervisory Commission on Taiwan formally announced guidelines for investment relationships between local and mainland banks.
According to the new rules, single mainland banks can take up to a 5% stake in a Taiwan bank, and Taiwan banks can invest up to 15% of their book value in mainland banks. The [...]

Geithner expects China to move on forex policy

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said yesterday that he expects China to move on its exchange rate, commented by Geithner on Fox Business Television.
“I think China will ultimately decide it’s in their interest to move…to a more flexible exchange rate,” he said.
Geithner was under pressure to say whether he supported a [...]

Obama urges China move towards market-based currency system

US President Barack Obama said Thursday that China’s movement towards a more market-based currency system “would make an essential contribution to that global re-balancing effort.”
Obama said Chinese exchange-rate reform was in line with the G20 goal of boosting consumption and domestic demand in countries that have external surpluses, such as China, and encouraging saving and [...]

China’s bank lending, fixed-asset investment both slow

Bank lending and investment spending, the foundation stones upon which much of China’s stimulus plan was built, saw slower growth in February.
Urban fixed-asset investment rose 26.6% in January and February, the slowest rate of growth in a year and well down on the 2009 full-year figure of 30.5%, the National Bureau of Statistics said. It [...]

CBRC promises closer monitoring on new loans

The chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said that the regulator would ensure that “every cent” of bank loans this year enters the real economy.
Liu Mingkang echoed comments made by Wen Jiabao at the National People’s Congress, saying that the year ahead “will be extremely complex and full of uncertainties.”
“Faced with inflation expectations, [...]

China’s exports up 45.7% in February

China’s exports rose 45.7% year-on-year in February, up from the 21% growth reported in January.
The significant increase is largely seen as a result of base effects, as February 2009 marked the point of sharpest decline for China’s exports during the global financial crisis.
Imports were up 44.7% in February, down from 85.5% growth in January; January’s [...]

China’s inflation accelerates in February

China’s consumer prices rose 2.7% in February, up from a 1.5% increase in January.
The producer price index rose 5.4% in February, up from a 4.3% in January. Higher food prices were largely responsible for the rise, although economists note that other consumer price index (CPI) components, such as transport and housing, are also increasing.
Beijing has [...]

British Foreign Secretary to visit China next week

British Foreign Secretary David Milliband will visit Beijing and Shanghai next week for talks on China-Britain relations.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that Milliband will meet with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi in Beijing and then travel to Shanghai.
“The two sides will exchange views on China-Britain relations and major international and regional issues of [...]

China to spreads out forex reserves risk

China’s vast foreign exchange reserves are diverse, long term investments and will not be used to speculate on currency markets, according to a senior government official.
Yi Gang, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said in a statement at the National People’s Congress that the country’s $4.2 trillion foreign exchange stockpile included multiple currencies.
“Currently, [...]

Beijing remains divided over currency peg

Senior Chinese officials appear divided over the issue of renminbi revaluation following comments by the country’s top banker to the National People’s Congress.
Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China, told the NPC that the currency peg to the dollar, which was formally introduced in 2008, was a “special measure” and that “these kinds [...]