Monday, October 20, 2008

China lays framework for Q4 national economic development

China will adopt a flexible and prudent macro-control policy to keep a stable and rapid economic development in the current fourth quarter, according to the State Council here on Sunday.

Related financial, credit and foreign trade measures will be carried out in the near future in response to the slowing trend of the country's economic growth and the continuous fluctuation in the domestic capital market amid the ongoing global financial crisis, according to a State Council meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday.

Agriculture continued to be a priority, with multiple support policies to come following the Communist Party of China Central Committee's decision to strengthen rural development this week.

To boost development of small- and medium-sized enterprises, the government planned to widen their investment channels by further encouraging financial institutions to give out more loans. Companies would also get more fiscal support for technology innovation.

In addition, the country would reinforce national investment in areas such as the southwest quake-zone reconstruction, infrastructure development and social welfare system, among others.

With regard to the foreign trade sector, the State Council, China's Cabinet, decided to increase imports of goods of domestic need and support the country's exports so as to realize the balance of international payments.

"We will further raise the export rebate of labour-intensive products such as garments and textiles, as well as mechanical and electrical products with high-added value," the council said.

In addition, the country's top administrative body would still keep a cautious eye on price increases with a focus on agricultural and energy related goods.

The advent of September's tainted milk scandal had also prompted the central government to pay closer attention to food safety in the fourth quarter. Regulations on dairy product quality and safety, which took effect earlier this month, would be further reinforced, according to the council decision.

While acknowledging the affect of the worldwide economic slowdown on the domestic economy, the Cabinet still expressed confidence for the nation to continue a healthy development.

"Our economy remains vigorous and has the capability to defend itself against international risks," Premier Wen Jiabao said at a State Council meeting on Friday.


Source: Xinhua

China's premium revenue to hit one trillion yuan this year

China's premium revenue is expected to hit one trillion yuan this year due to strengthened promotion and increasing demand, said a senior official on Sunday.

The premium revenue grew at an annual rate of 30 percent from 460 million yuan in 1980, when insurance business began to enter into full swing in China, to hit 703.58 billion yuan in 2007, said vice chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission Zhou Yanli at the opening ceremony of an insurance exhibition.

The revenue in the first eight months this year rose 52.24 percent year on year to 713.40 billion yuan which exceeded the total of last year, he said.

The revenue for the whole year is likely to break one trillion yuan at the current pace, he predicted.

The development of China's insurance business had been halted for 20 years after the founding of the new China in 1949. After the opening up and reform initiated in 1979, the sector was on the way to the right track and entered into full swing.

The value of the industry assets totaled more than three trillion yuan, which is owned by more than 110 insurers, according to Zhou.

Despite of the progress, insiders noted the revenue growth is poised to slow down in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first half of 2009 as insurers are expected to retain dividends to protect its profit margin which was hurt by stock investment returns slumps. That is likely to discourage the future premium growth.

China Life, the nation's largest life insurer, saw premium jump52.9 percent from a year ago to 23.44 billion yuan in September, much slower than the 93.7 percent growth in August. The combined revenue in the first nine months totaled 248.6 billion yuan, up 56.7 percent year on year, comparing with the 57.14 percent growth in August.

Source: Xinhua

Hong Kong's air traffic volumes decline amid global financial turmoil

The Hong Kong International Airport handled 3.6 million passengers and 317,000 tons of cargo in September, declining 4.7 percent and 7.5 percent respectively from the same month last year, amid the global financial turmoil, the Airport Authority said Sunday.

Air traffic movements also edged down 0.4 percent to 24,570. Reduction in passenger traffic came mostly from visitor traffic while travel by Hong Kong residents and the transfer or transit passenger number decreased slightly. On the cargo front, the decline was across the board, including import, export and transshipment.

Stanley Hui Hon-chung, Chief Executive Officer of the Airport Authority said, the steep decline in traffic volumes in both passenger and air cargo clearly reflected a very troubled global economy as a result of the financial tsunami, which has affected all countries in the world. The United States and Europe, the biggest trading partners with Hong Kong, saw a significant drop in air cargo traffic to and from Hong Kong in the month.

Hui said, the National Day Golden Week holiday also brought fewer numbers of visitors to Hong Kong by air this year than 2007,showing a continuing decline in traffic between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland as well.

"The aviation industry is expected to face even more difficult times in the coming months," he added.

Air traffic figures for the first nine months of this year recorded mild growth over the same period in 2007. Passenger volume rose 3.7 percent to 36.7 million, while cargo throughput and air traffic movements grew 3.0 percent and 3.1 percent to 2.8 million tons and 225,715 movements respectively.

Source: Xinhua

China's GDP up 9.9% in Jan.-Sept. period

China's gross domestic product grew 9.9 percent year on year to 20.163 trillion yuan in the first three quarters of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

The growth rate was 2.3 percentage points lower than the same period of last year, or 0.5 percentage points lower than the first half of this year.

The GDP growth was 10.6 percent for the first quarter, 10.1 percent for the second quarter and 9 percent for the third quarter, the bureau said.

NBS Chief Economist Yao Jingyuan told Xinhua that the GDP growth for the January-September period was still higher than the 9.8-percent average for the past three decades.

Given the ongoing global economic slowdown, China's GDP growth for the first three quarters "is a hard-earned achievement," said Yao.

"It was achieved on the basis of the current macro-control efforts," he added.

The total GDP for the January-September period included 2.18 trillion yuan generated by the primary sector, up 4.5 percent, 10.11 trillion yuan by the secondary sector , up 10.5 percent, and 7.87 trillion yuan by the tertiary sector , up 10.3 percent.

The growth rates for the primary sector was 0.2 percentage points higher than the year-earlier level, but that for the secondary and tertiary sectors were 3.0 percentage points and 2.4 percentage points lower respectively.

Li Xiaochao, the NBS spokesman, noted that the 9.9 percent growth was achieved on a large economic volume.

According to Li, the fundamentals of the Chinese economy remains good. This is marked by the facts that the economic growth is stable and fast, consumer prices continues to fall, industrial structure has optimized more or less and that the quality of economic operation has improved.

From January to September, fixed-asset investment amounted to 11.62 trillion yuan nationwide, up 27.0 percent on the same period of last year. The growth rate was 1.3 percentage points higher.

The total included 9.987 trillion yuan in urban areas, up 27.6 percent, and 1.638 trillion yuan in rural areas, up 23.3 percent. The growth rates were 1.2 percentage points and 2.1 percentage points, respectively, higher than the year-earlier level.

Consumer price index, or CPI, went up 7.0 percent year-on-year in the first nine months. The growth rate was 2.9 percentage points higher than the year-ago level, but down 0.9 percentage points from the first-half-year level.

The major inflation measurement was up 4.6 percent in September,0.3 percentage points lower than the previous month. Its rise rate has fallen for five consecutive months since May.

However, the producer price index , which measures the value of finished products when they leave the factory, rose 8.3 percent in the first nine months, said the bureau. The growth rate was 5.6 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

In September alone, the PPI rose 9.1 percent over the same month a year earlier. The growth rate was one percentage point lower than the record 10.1 percent in August.

Li said the economic restructuring has proceeded well. In the first three quarters, high-energy-consuming sectors realized an output growth of 13.2 percent, down 6.4 percentage points, while the high-tech manufacturing sector posted a growth of 16.5 percent in value-added output, 1.3 percentage points higher than the average for all major manufacturers.

Meanwhile, western and central regions outperformed the eastern areas in terms of production and investment growth, he added.

Between January and August, industrial enterprises each with an annual sales income of at least five million yuan chalked up a profit increase of 19.4 percent.

The per-capita pure income of rural residents was 3,971 yuan, gaining 11 percent in real-term, and the per-capita disposable income of urbanites was 11,865 yuan, up 7.5 percent in real-term, Li added.

Source: Xinhua

China's CPI rises 4.6% in Sept.

China's consumer price index ,the main gauge of inflation, rose 4.6 percent in September over the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

The figure, compared with 7.1 percent in June, 6.3 percent in July, 4.9 percent in August and a nearly 12-year-high of 8.7 percent in February, was broadly in line with most forecasts.

In the first nine months of this year, the inflation indicator rose 7.0 percent from the same period last year: 6.7 percent for urban areas and 7.7 percent for the countryside. The growth rate was 0.9 percentage points lower than that in the first half.

Food prices, which account for more than a third of the CPI calculation, rose 17.3 percent during the January to September period.

Zhuang Jian, an Asian Development Bank economist said: "The figure indicated the government's measures to tame inflationary were effective, and the country's inflation pressure has been greatly eased."

An official with Ministry of Commerce who declined to be named told Xinhua that the declining CPI growth was within the government's expectation, and it was likely to continue a declining momentum in the future.

Despite a drop in the CPI growth, the producer price index , which measures the value of finished products when they leave the factory, rose 8.3 percent in the first nine months, said the bureau. The growth rate was 5.6 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

In September alone, the PPI rose 9.1 percent over the same month a year earlier. The growth rate was one percentage point lower than the record 10.1 percent in August.

Meanwhile, the purchaser prices for raw materials, fuel and power rose 12.4 percent in the first nine months. The growth rate was 8.6 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

"Surging fuel and raw material prices in the world markets had pushed up domestic prices through a chain effect. Oil price, for example, rose almost 50 percent than that at the beginning of the year," Zhuang said.

"However, the PPI rise is expected to slow down in the coming months as world fuel price drop. It would not immediately increase pressure on the CPI," he added.

Yao Jingyuan, chief economist of the bureau, said price falls in consecutive five months had given the government more leverage to implement economic control, expand domestic demand and loose price control on resources materials.

"Since inflation pressure has been greatly eased, the country should be cautious about a weakening economic growth," said Li Xiaochao, spokesman with the bureau.

The NBS said on Monday morning that China's gross domestic product grew 9.9 percent year on year to 20.163 trillion yuan in the first three quarters of this year.

The growth rate was 2.3 percentage points lower than the same period of last year, or 0.5 percentage points lower than the first half of this year.

Zuo Xiaolei, China Galaxy Securities chief economist, said the country should consider moderately easing the tightened economic policy and focus its efforts on maintaining a fast economic development.

In recent months, most of China's economic figures indicated that the country's economy has cooled down, led by both domestic policies and the ebbing world economy.

China's foreign trade, in particular, was affected by a weakening international demand. Earlier figure from China Customs showed the country's export was 1.07 trillion U.S. dollars in the first three quarters, up 22.3 percent over the same period last year, but the growth rate was 4.8 percentage lower year on year.

"China has to upgrade its economic growth structure--export can hardly grow fast in the near future -- it is the right time for the government to boost domestic demand and stimulate consumption," Zuo said.

"Considering the poor people are more prone to spend their money when incomes increased, the policy makers should increase incomes and improve lives of this kind of people," she said.

Zhao Jinping, an economist, suggested China should increase prices of farm products and increase income of farmers, while improving social insurance system covering education, medical treatment, and aged treatment.

Source: Xinhua

Hainan Airlines to open direct air route from Beijing to Bishkek

Hainan airlines will open a new direct air route from Beijing to Bishkek on Nov. 15th. Promoting mutual communication and cooperation in the field of politics, economy and culture, this first ever-in-history direct air route between the capitals of China and Kyrgyzstan will erect a new silk road in air.

In the end of the year, it’s remarkable that Hainan airlines will open this “non-popular” air route. While other airline companies are trying to enter the European or American markets, Hainan airlines chooses Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, as its new destination because of the steady growth of demands there and frequent economical communications, which represents an international leading strategy of development and its ambition in Central Asia airline market.

One corporate officer said, that at present Hainan airlines is the only airline company, which has a direct stretch from Beijing to Bishkek. The company will use Boeing 767-300ER to execute the flight missions, which features 32 business seats and economical seats, providing every passenger with comfortable travel service.

The officer emphasized that the opening of this air route will also provide passengers who travel in Central Asia with more convenient and economical transit route, which will save they stay in Urumchi or Tashkent. And by means of the capacity of Beijing Capital Airport, this airway can bring passengers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and other central Asian countries to every part of the world, which will also enhance the diffusive capacity of the airline itself.

It was said that during the early stage, the airline will be arranged once a week, which means the plane will take off from Beijing on Saturday. The flight schedule is as follows: the plane will take off on 17:50, and arrive in Bishkek on 21:40 this day; on the return trip the plane will take off from Bishkek on 23:20, and arrive in Beijing on 6:30 next morning .

Kyrgyzstan is a central Asian inland country with the population of 5.17 million people, and covers 198.5 thousand square meters. The country borders on Kazakhstan to the North, Uzbekistan to the West, Tadzhikistan to the South, and is neighbored with Xinjiang, China to the South-east. Bishkek, the capital of the country, is located in Valley Chuhe, with the population of 900 thousand people. In recent years, it becomes a famous city in central Asia and an important trade center.

As Liu Chuanwu, the Chinese economical and business counselor to Kyrgyzstan, puts, in these years, economical and financial communications between China and Kyrgyzstan develop rapidly and successfully. From 2002 to 2007, the volume of trade keeps increasing by 70% annually, and Kyrgyzstan has become the second biggest trading partner of China in central Asian, while China is the fifth biggest trading partner of Kyrgyzstan. Now economical and financial cooperation between China and Kyrgyzstan is transforming from the stage of primary trading to that of strategic partnership in some key fields.

By People's Daily Online

Chinese shares lose 0.73% in morning session on fresh economic data

Chinese shares ended 0.73 percent lower in the morning session on Monday after the country's top statistician said the economic growth slowed to 9.0 percent in the third quarter.

The lowest growth in more than five years reported by the National Statistics Bureau in the morning was largely in line with market expectations.

NBS Chief Economist Yao Jingyuan also said the country's growth for the first three quarters -- 9.9 percent -- "is a hard-earned achievement" given the ongoing global economic slowdown.

The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 1,916.55 points, down 14.10 points or 0.73 percent from the previous close.

The smaller Shenzhen Component Index, however, gained 0.36 percent to finish at 6,231.64 points, up 22.14 points.

The combined turnover was 16.64 billion yuan and remained low, as investors waited for further government policies to boost the economy.

Weak heavyweights led to the sluggish performance in the morning. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slid 1 percent to 3.96 yuan , and the Bank of China declined 0.63 percent to 3.16 yuan.

PetroChina, the country's major oil producer, lost 3.38 percent to 11.72 yuan.

The agriculture sector gained more than 2 percent across the board following a weekend announcement saying the government would allow farmers to "lease their contracted farmland or transfer their land-use right" in a bid to boost rural development.

Xinjiang Korla Pear surged 10.02 percent to 5.93 yuan, and the Hebei-based Fortune NG Fung Food soared 8.52 percent.

The real estate sector rebounded after a state council meeting said the country would lower housing transaction taxes to encourage people's enthusiasm in buying apartments.

Hainan Pearl River Holdings surged by the daily 10-percent limit to 3.17 yuan. The Shenzhen-based Gemdale corporation gained 3.05 percent to 6.42 yuan, and China Merchants Property Development went up 1.12 percent to 13.55 yuan.

Shenguang Securities said in a report that the final release of the country's economic data for the third quarter put an end to market anticipation and helped prevent the market from falling further.

Source:Xinhua