Economy and Data Brief

China's P2P online lending remains tepid in March -- Business volume of China's peer-to-peer (P2P) online lending, though recovered more or less on a monthly basis, was less than the year-earlier level in March following increased regulation, an industrial report showed. P2P online lending transactions reached 192 billion yuan (30 billion U.S. dollars) in March, down 23.6 percent year on year, according to a report from wdzj.com, a P2P online lending analysis platform.

Erenhot sees 22 China-Europe rail routes -- A total of 22 China-Europe rail routes have passed through Erenhot so far, according to the local port on April 2. In the first quarter of the year, Erenhot port saw exports and imports of 3.142 million metric tons (tonnes), up 44.2 percent year on year. To be specific, the port saw imports of 2.835 million tonnes, up 43.6 percent year on year, hitting a record high.

E. China Fujian Province’s trade with B&R countries up 30.3pct in Jan.-Feb. -- East China’s Fujian Province saw its foreign trade with countries along the Belt and Road routes stood at 64.54 billion yuan in the first two months of 2018, up 30.3 percent year on year, according to the Xiamen Customs. To be specific, the province’s imports from those countries increased 35.2 percent year on year to stand at 28.09 billion yuan, while its exports to those countries rose 26.8 percent year on year to be 36.45 billion yuan.

China's crude oil stockpile rises 1.58 pct -- China's commercial crude oil stocks rose 1.58 percent in February from the previous month, while stocks of refined oil surged 13.6 percent. The increase was a result of fewer imports as well as falling output and processing volume. Gasoline stocks went down in February as fuel demand rose during the 40-day Spring Festival travel period which concluded on March 12.

China's current account surplus remains reasonable in 2017 -- China's current account surplus remained within a reasonable range last year, the country's foreign exchange regulator said on March 29. The current account surplus stood at 164.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, accounting for 1.3 percent of GDP, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).