China plans to have 1,027 banks open in China’s rural areas by 2011, an effort to provide wider access to financial services in the countryside. The announcement came after the China Banking Regulatory Commission said the majority of the 118 rural banks set up since 2006 had become profitable by June 30. China has relied [...]
Almost 80 infant girls from Guizhou province were taken by family planning officials since 2001 and put up for foreign adoption, according to China state media. According to a report in the Southern Metropolis News, farmers in Zhenyuan county who could not afford the US$2,926.50 fee for failing to comply with the two-child birth control [...]
Chinese PC maker Lenovo will sell low-cost computers in rural areas as part of its efforts to refocus on the domestic market in response to weakening demand in the West. The move will involve the launch of 700 new retail stores and 7,800 affiliated sales outlets in villages. Lenovo hopes to take advantage of a [...]
China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said the country’s steel industry is beginning to recover due partly to the government’s stimulus policies. “Signs that the steel industry is turning better are related to national policies for promoting car and electronics sales in rural areas,” Wen was quoted as saying on a government website. January figures for steel [...]
Rural China is the latest target in Beijing’s bid to boost domestic consumption following the announcement of a new government plan on Monday. The plan involves creating jobs, lowering distribution costs and improving product quality and availability in rural areas. As part of these efforts, Beijing will help set up 150,000 stores in the countryside [...]
China will roll out a series of measures to stimulate China’s flagging rural economy, as it believes the countryside is the key to the nation’s economic revival. In the first policy document issued jointly by the State Council and the Communist Party Central Committee this year, the government said on Sunday that 2009 would be [...]
Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. (ABC) rose 19.1% to US$7.48 billion in 2008. The lender’s return on assets was 0.79% and its return on equity was 19.1%. ABC President Zhang Yun said the bank saw “a great improvement in profitiability” in 2008. The bank, which became a joint stock company in early January 2009, planned [...]
Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) will undergo a restructuring that reportedly will include a recapitalization of about US$20 billion from China’s sovereign wealth fund. China approved the plan for the bank to become a shareholding bank as part of Beijing’s long-term plan, started about 10 years ago, to overhaul the country’s banking sector. A subsidiary [...]
Citigroup said it is beginning a drive to develop small-scale lending businesses to serve rural areas in China. The US bank announced that it had been approved by the mainland banking regulator to open two loan businesses in Hubei province. The two new businesses, Hubei Jingzhou Gong’an Citi Lending Co and Hubei Xianning Chibi Citi [...]
