China allocates 8.06 bln yuan for disaster victims -- The National Commission for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) and the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) allocated over 8.06 billion yuan (1.24 billion U.S. dollars) to provide support for disaster victims in 2017, said a national civil affairs conference on January 3. The NCDR and the MCA initiated disaster emergency responses 17 times in 2017 to deal with severe disasters including earthquakes, landslides and floods. The two agencies also sent 17 work teams to help with disaster relief, according to the conference.
Beijing to add more convenience stores -- Beijing wants the number of convenience stores in its urban and near-urban areas to reach 3,000 in three years so that shoppers will not have to travel far to find a store in the city. According to the municipal commerce commission, four government departments will jointly launch measures to facilitate business. There are currently only about 1,500 convenience stores in Beijing. Under the commission's blueprint, there should be more than 2,000 convenience stores in the city proper so that a convenience store can be found near every residential community, and over half of the stores should operate around the clock.
China lowers import duties for donkey skin -- Facing a shortage of donkey skin to produce the traditional medicine ejiao, China will lower the tariff of imported donkey hides starting January 1. A tariff adjustment plan for 2018, published on Dec. 27 by the General Administration of Customs, shows that the import duty rate for a whole piece of donkey hide of a certain weight will be lowered from 5 to 2 percent.
China, Georgia FTA takes effect -- Quarantine authorities of China's Shandong Province issued a certificate of origin for a batch of mirror boards to be exported to Georgia, the first such certificate signed under the free trade agreement between the two countries. The agreement went into effect on January 1. It is the 15th free trade agreement involving China that has taken effect so far, and the first one China signed with a country along the Silk Road Economic Belt.
China starts collecting environment tax -- China started collecting an environment tax on January 1 to better protect the environment and cut pollutant discharge, as the country's Environmental Protection Tax Law took effect on Jan. 1, 2018. The introduction of the tax called an end to the "pollutant discharge fee" which China had been collecting for nearly 40 years. This is China's first tax clearly designed for environmental protection, which will help establish a "green" financial and taxation system and promote pollution control and treatment of pollutants, said Wang Jinnan, head of the Chinese Academy For Environmental Planning under the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
China to simplify administrative procedures for foreign banks -- China will further cut red tape to create a better business environment for foreign banks, the country's banking regulator said on December 28. The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) will revise rules on administrative licensing for foreign banks to minimize the approval items and unify market entry standards for Chinese and foreign banks, the CBRC said in an online statement.
Pakistani central bank allows Chinese currency for bilateral trade -- The central bank of Pakistan gave its green signal to use the Chinese yuan (CNY) for bilateral trade and investment activities, ensuring that imports, exports and financing transactions can be denominated in the Chinese currency. In a press release on January 2, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) stated that Chinese yuan is an approved foreign currency for denominating foreign currency transactions in Pakistan.
A single purchase
