China on Sunday announced plans to streamline several government ministries, doing away particularly with the powerful but scandal-plagued Ministry of Railways. The move is the seventh bureaucratic restructuring in three decades, according to Xinhua, a state-owned news agency.
The ranks of ultra-rich individuals in China’s legislature increased 17 percent from last year, highlighting the cozy relationship between the wealthy and the ruling Communist party.
Among the delegates gathered in Beijing this week to attend the National People’s Congress, 83 of them are U.S. dollar billionaires, said Shanghai-based research firm Hurun.
Beijing has outlined plans to shift its economy away from reliance on investment and exports by boosting domestic demand, as the ruling Communist Party attempts to introduce painful reforms meant to rebalance the world’s second largest economy.
China’s largest oil firm, the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), could purchase its first U.S. shale asset this year, according to Bloomberg on Wednesday, after the company set aside $40 billion to partake in the U.S.’s energy renaissance.
China has provisionally overtaken the U.S. as the world’s largest net importer of oil, said the Financial Times on Tuesday, after the U.S. posted its lowest import figures since 1992 on the back of booming domestic oil production.
Although the latest FDI figures by China’s Ministry of Commerce may appear disappointing, the truth is there has been an intensifying relocation of investments from China’s 1st and 2nd tier cities to other parts of China and across Southeast Asia. Asia’s new FDI “deal” is a regional win-win story – whereby emerging Asia can benefit from the low-cost advantages that China once enjoyed, while China shifts from manufacturing to high-value services.
Authorities should drain more cash from the financial system and enhance oversight of banks’ off-balance sheet business, said the Chinese State Information Centre, as the risks of overheating outweigh potential economic slowdowns.
Citing a strong rebound in the fourth quarter and an improvement in the country’s economic outlook, the Centre, the research arm of the National Development and Reform Commission, said in a report on Wednesday that China should adopt a tighter monetary policy to mitigate inflationary risks.
Chinese consumers rang in the Year of the Snake by spending over 539 billion yuan ($86.3 billion) from Lunar New Year’s eve until the 6th day of the Chinese New Year, showed data from the Ministry of Finance on Sunday, marking a 14.7 percent increase from the same period last year.
While the cost of living in China is relatively low when compared with advanced economies like Hong Kong or London, the truth is Chinese consumers often pay a hefty premium for foreign brands.
Anyone who has been to China would have noticed how much more expensive foreign goods cost there. From Starbucks to Nike, Haagen Dazs to Prada, foreign brands are often sold at a hefty premium in the Mainland.
China has banned the broadcast of advertisements for luxury items on its state radio and television stations as part of a campaign against corruption and extravagance. The timing coincides with the Lunar New Year preparations and festivities, where the giving of gifts, often to gain favour with state officials, is a norm.
