China Economic ReviewBNP Paribas said it began sales of its first Chinese securities fund, for which it plans to raise a total of RMB 5 billion. Officials at the Paris-based bank said the fund will invest half its assets in blue chip Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares and 20% of assets in government bonds. BNP holds a 33% […]
China announced that its US$5.2 billion east-west gas pipeline will be finished ahead of schedule and contracts were signed for a total of 6.7 billion cubic meters of gas yearly. The pipeline is expected to transfer 12 billion cubic meters of gas yearly from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Shanghai by 2009. The eastern […]
China announced that it plans to incrementally reduce and eventually abolish the country's agriculture tax. The phasing out of the 8% agricultural tax is expected to reduce the financial burden of China's farmers by US$580 million per year. The per capita annual income of China's farmers in 2003 was US$317.
China announced that it will increase monitoring of foreign banks with operations on the mainland. The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said it will review the books of banks' China branches as well as their global parent companies, bringing banking regulations closer in line with international practices. Foreign banks held 1.4% of China's combined banking […]
The State Council member Ma Kai told the National People's Congress that a minimum economic growth rate of 7% was necessary in order to keep the official urban registered jobless rate under 5%. The official jobless rate is around 4.7%. Ma repeated a government pledge to restrict reckless lending and investment in overheated sectors including […]