CIC executive criticizes US infrastructure spending plan

Zhou Yuan, head of asset allocation at China Investment Corp., the country’s sovereign wealth fund, said US infrastructure spending plans are “too little, too late,” Bloomberg reported. Zhou – whose principal concern is low interest rates in the US – said the proposed infrastructure spending of about US$500 billion over six years should be doubled, the increase coming in preference to quantitative easing as it provides more jobs. He added that CIC may invest in such projects but wouldn’t expect to own them on completion. CIC was created in September 2007 with an initial capitalization of US$200 billion backed by China’s foreign exchange reserves. Its funding has since risen to US$300 billion. However, Zhou said CIC has depleted its cash to the point where it is seeking more government money. As of June 9, about 8.6% of CIC’s portfolio was in cash, according to Jesse Wang, the fund’s executive vice president.