BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — China’s new yuan-denominated lending in December rose to 379.8 billion yuan (55.6 billion U.S. dollars) from November’s 294.8 billion yuan, the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, said Friday.

China might become top world exporter, but weakness remains

    BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) — China will probably overtake Germany to become the world’s largest exporter though its exports in 2009 had fallen 16 percent from a year earlier, according to figures released Sunday by the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

    But Chinese experts and officials said the country was far from being a real trade power if measured by exports structure, technological innovation and industry competitiveness.  Full story

China rolls out fresh measures for property market amid rising house prices

A customer checking out a model of a real estate project in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. Property prices in China’s 70 major cities rose at the fastest pace in 16 months in November. (China Daily/Qiu Daocen)

    BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) — The General Office of the State Council, China’s cabinet, Sunday issued a notice that required central governmental departments and local governments to strengthen management, stabilize market expectations and facilitate stable and sound development of the real estate market.     

    ”With the recovery of the real estate market, such problems as excessively rising house prices have recently emerged in some cities, which call for great attention,” said the notice.  Full story

China’s 2009 foreign trade falls 13.9% to $2.21 trln with surplus at $196.1 bln

    BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) — China’s foreign trade in 2009 dropped 13.9 percent from a year earlier to 2.21 trillion U.S. dollars and its trade surplus last year slid 34.2 percent year on year to 196.1 billion U.S. dollars, according to figures released Sunday by the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

    In breakdown, China’s exports in 2009 stood at 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars, down 16 percent from in 2008, and imports reached 1.01 trillion U.S. dollars, down 11.2 percent from a year earlier, said the GAC.  Full story

China’s 2009 fiscal revenue expected to surpass $1 trillion: Minister

    BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) — China’s 2009 fiscal revenue was estimated at 6.85 trillion yuan (just over 1 trillion U.S. dollars), an increase of 11.7 percent over a year earlier, Finance Minister Xie Xuren said here Sunday.

    Xie also said the budget of public investment in 2010 from the central government was likely to stand at 992.7 billion yuan, up 572.2 billion yuan from the 2008 budget.  Full story

China gives nod to index futures, margin trading     

    BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) — China’s securities regulator said Friday the State Council had approved “in principle” the launch of index futures and given it the green light to pilot the margin trading business.

    Its introduction was aimed to boost the stable and healthy development of the capital market, said an official with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). The move came after the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index surged 80 percent in 2009 after tumbling 65 percent in 2008.  Full story

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis

    BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — China’s tax revenue reported an annual increase of 9.1 percent to 6.31 trillion yuan (928 billion U.S. dollars) last year, said a statement posted Friday on the website of the State Administration of Taxation.

    Tax revenue excludes tariffs, tonnage dues, farmland use tax and contract tax, said the statement.

    Domestic retail sales tax revenues jumped 85.4 percent to 476.1billion yuan, boosted by measures adopted by the central government to increase the economy’s dependence on domestic consumption.

    China’s auto purchase tax saw a surge of 17.6 percent to 116.4 billion yuan, with 13.64 million cars sold nationwide, up 46.15 percent year on year, putting China ahead of the United States as the world’s top auto maker and market.

    The value-added tax on producer products rose to 1.88 trillion yuan, up 3.8 percent year on year, accounting for the biggest proportion of tax revenue.

    However, the stamp tax of stock transactions dropped 47.9 percent to 51.4 billion yuan, said the statement.

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis

    BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — Chinese equities edged up for the second straight day Friday, led by real estate developers stocks.

    The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.27 percent, or 8.6 points, to close at 3,224.15 points.

    The Shenzhen Component Index gained 0.46 percent, or 60.18 points, to close at 13,264.37 points.

    Combined turnover totaled 258.9 billion yuan (37.9 billion U.S. dollars), shrinking from 287.01 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

    Gainers outnumbered losers by 541 to 310 in Shanghai and 494 to307 in Shenzhen.

    Shares of real estate developers advanced, led by Wolong Real Estate Group Co., which surged by the daily 10-percent limit to 16.97 yuan after it announced an annual 33.3-percent increase in 2009 net profits.

    The real estate sector was also buoyed by housing price rises in December, which surged 7.8 percent from a year earlier in 70 major cities, said Bai Taiping, analyst with the Bozhong Research Institute.

    China Vanke Co., the country’s largest real estate developer by market value, rose 1.1 percent to 10.14 yuan. Poly Real Estate Group Co., the second largest, was up 1.9 percent to 20.98 yuan.

    Automaker stocks also gained, boosted by market talk that the government was likely to release a support plan for the development of new-energy-powered vehicles in the first quarter of this year.

    Shares of the Dongfeng Automobile Co. increased 1.81 percent to6.74 yuan. The SAIC Motor Corp. gained 1.45 percent to 23.09 yuan.

    Wuliangye Yibin Co., one of China’s top liquor producers, added0.38 percent to 31.56 yuan on price increases. Kweichow Moutai Co., gained 0.79 percent to 169.87 yuan.

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    HOHHOT, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has replaced neighboring Shanxi Province as the country’s largest producer of coal, local authorities said Friday.

    In 2009, Inner Mongolia reported coal output of 637 million tonnes, 22 million tonnes more than Shanxi, China’s top coal producing region for 30 years, said a statement from the regional administration of coal mine safety.

    Last year, Inner Mongolia’s coal production increased 37 percent year on year, and it was expected to hit 730 million tonnes in 2010, the statement said.

    Shanxi saw a decline of 4.7 percent of its coal output year on year in 2009, it said.

    Since 2004, Inner Mongolia had cut the number of its collieries from 2009 to 501, while expanding their annual capacity from 140,000 tonnes to 1 million tonnes, it said.

    It also contained the country’s largest verified coal reserves of 700 billion tonnes, which more than doubled the number of Shanxi, said a spokesman with the regional department of Land and Resources.

    In 2009, Shanxi launched a major coal industry consolidation to optimize operations, which led to closure of collieries with an annual capacity lower than 300,000 tonnes, Chen Chuanping, vice governor of Shanxi, told a news briefing early this month.

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    MACAO, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — Macao’s Tourist Price Index (TPI) for the forth quarter of 2009 rose by 9.23 percent over the same period of last year to 158.58, according to the figures released on Friday by the city’s Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

    The figures showed that the price indices of Miscellaneous goods, Accommodation and Food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco increased notably by 26.16 percent, 13.16 percent and 4.12 percent year-on-year respectively in the period, attributable to dearer prices of jewellery led by rising gold prices, higher hotel room rate during the National Day holidays, the Macao Grand Prix and Christmas holiday period, as well as general increase of food prices.

    On the contrary, lower airfares pushed the price index of Transport and communications down by 3.47 percent year-on-year.

    The average TPI for 2009 rose by 3.81 percent year-on-year, with marked increase of the indices of Miscellaneous goods, Food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco and Restaurant services.

    TPI reflects the price changes of goods and services purchased by visitors, which is compiled based on the consumption pattern of visitors derived from the Visitor Expenditure Survey. The base year of TPI is from July 1999 to June 2000.    

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis

    BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — Chinese shares closed higher at midday on Friday after the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said the foreign direct investment (FDI) doubled in December from a year ago.

    The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.50 percent, to close at 3,231.69 points.

    The Shenzhen Component Index gained 0.58 percent, to close at 13,280.75 points.

    The FDI in China rose for the fifth consecutive month in December, increasing 103 percent from a year earlier to 12.1 billion U.S. dollars, the MOC said Friday.

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis