China Economic ReviewFujian International Trust and Investment Corporation (Fitic) was closed in early January, an official from Fujian province told Reuters. The People’s Bank of China has taken over the trust company’s debts and assets and was considering whether to let the firm declare bankruptcy, which would leave payment of creditors in the hands of a court. […]
China’s gross domestic product is likely to grow 7.5 per cent in 2002, said the chairman of the Economic Research Institute under the State Council, up from an estimated 7.3 per cent last year. Chen Donqi said that the economic “interruption” caused by the terrorist attacks on the US on September 11 would not last […]
The government needs to create at least 8m jobs this year to keep the urban unemployment rate to within 4.5 per cent, said Xinhua. The official definition of unemployment is very narrow, excluding an estimated 150m jobless from the countryside and millions more who are not at work but are still kept on state company […]
China’s finance minister, Xiang Huaicheng, said he expected a “bloated” budget deficit in 2002 as the government continues its policy of heavy state spending to stimulate economic growth and meet rising welfare costs caused by higher unemployment and rising pension obligations. While he gave no detailed figures, Xiang said that the total amount of debt […]
An explosion at a fireworks factory in Jiangxi province in late December killed at least 39 people. More than 10,000 residents living close to the Hong Kong-owned Panda Export Fireworks Co were forced to evacuate following the explosion. Another blast in a separate factory in Jiangxi in early January prompted the province’s party secretary, Meng […]