China sees steady employment in Q1 -- China continued to see a stable job market in the first quarter this year, with the unemployment rate at a relatively low level, official data showed on April 17. From January to March, the monthly surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.0 percent, 5.0 percent, and 5.1 percent respectively, down 0.2 percentage points, 0.4 percentage points, and 0.1 percentage points from the same month last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The urban surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 4.9 percent, 4.8 percent, and 4.9 percent respectively, down 0.1 percentage points, 0.2 percentage points, and 0.1 percentage points year on year.
China's resident income up 6.6 pct in Q1 -- China's average per capita disposable income grew 6.6 percent year on year in real terms to 7,815 yuan (about 1,245 U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of 2018, official data showed on April 17. The growth was calculated after taking into consideration the effects of inflation, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The nominal growth in resident income was 8.8 percent in the first quarter. The strong growth was supported by China's 6.8 percent GDP growth in the first quarter, which held steady from the previous quarter and is well above the government annual growth target of around 6.5 percent this year.
Chinese central SOEs profit up 19.4 pct in Q1 -- China's central state-owned enterprises (SOEs) saw their net profits surge 19.4 percent in the first quarter of the year, China's top SOE regulator said on April 16. The total operating revenue of central SOEs increased by 8.7 percent year on year to 6.4 trillion yuan (about 1.02 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter, according to Peng Huagang, spokesperson for the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. In March, central SOEs in sectors of electricity, coal, and machinery led SOE revenue growth to 2.4 trillion yuan, and monthly profit reached a new high by increasing 17.8 percent year-on-year to 169.8 billion yuan, he said.
China's central SOEs see drop in asset-liability ratio in Q1 -- China's central state-owned enterprises (SOEs) saw a drop in their asset-liability ratio in the first quarter of this year thanks to deleveraging efforts, the country's top SOE regulator said on April 16. The average asset-liability ratio for central SOEs stood at 65.9 percent by the end of March, down by 0.4 percentage points compared with the beginning of this year, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
China's outbound investment continues rapid growth -- China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) continued to see double-digit growth in the first quarter of the year, official data showed on April 16. Domestic investors made 25.5 billion U.S. dollars of non-financial ODI in 2,023 overseas enterprises in 140 countries and regions for January-March, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said. The figure was up 24.1 percent from the same period last year, according to the MOC.
China’s investment in B&R countries in Q1 up 22.4pct y-o-y -- China’s non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) in 52 countries along the Belt and Road routes totaled 3.61 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of the year, up 22.4 percent year on year, accounting for 14.2 percent of the country's ODI on a global scale in the period, according to the Ministry of Commerce. In the first quarter, China saw 158 foreign contracted projects each with a contract value of more than 50 million U.S. dollars, totaling 37.42 billion U.S. dollars. The foreign contracted projects drove the country’s exports of goods by 3.94 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 12.9 percent year on year.
21 B&R countries and regions show up in 123rd Canton Fair -- 382 enterprises from 21 countries and regions along the Belt and Road routes have participated in the ongoing 123rd session of the China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, according to the People's Daily. Ukraine, Egypt and Turkey have participated in the fair in the form of national exhibition pavilions. The Canton Fair was opened in South China's Guangzhou on April 15. A total of 24,554 Chinese and foreign enterprises participated in the fair. The total exhibition area was 1.185 million square meters, with 60,475 booths.
China's trade in goods with B&R countries exceeds USD5 trillion in 2013-2017 -- China’s trade in goods with the countries along the Belt and Road routes totaled more than 5 trillion U.S. dollars during the period of 2013 to 2017, according to the Belt and Road Trade and Investment Forum recently held in Beijing. China’s outbound direct investment in these countries exceeded 70 billion U.S. dollars during the five years. The Chinese enterprises promoted the establishment of 75 economic and trade cooperation zones in these countries, paid taxes of 2.2 billion U.S. dollars, and created 210,000 jobs.
China records sound Q1 trade, surplus narrows -- China on April 13 reported sound growth in foreign trade for the first quarter and an over one-fifth drop in the trade surplus, pointing to a more balanced trade picture. The country's goods exports rose 7.4 percent year on year in the first three months while imports grew 11.7 percent, resulting in a trade surplus of 326.18 billion yuan (about 51.85 billion U.S. dollars), according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC). The surplus was 21.8 percent lower compared with the first quarter last year. In March alone, China posted a trade deficit of 29.78 billion yuan, the first monthly deficit since February 2017, GAC data showed.
China's local government debt balance at 16.61 tln yuan by end March -- China's local government debt balance stood at 16.61 trillion yuan (2.64 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of March, well within the official limit, according to the Ministry of Finance showed. The country's top legislative body has decided that the upper limit for local government debt this year should be 20.99 trillion yuan. China issued local government bonds worth 191 billion yuan in March and 219.5 billion yuan in the first three months of this year, all for debt swaps.
China's northeast bordering province sees surge in Russia trade -- Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on the Sino-Russian border reported 47.7 percent annual growth in its trade with Russia in the first quarter of the year. Its trade value with Russia reached 27.1 billion yuan (about 4.3 billion U.S. dollars), according to Harbin Customs. The imports and exports with Russia contributed to 70.6 percent of the province's total trade and also propelled the total trade to grow 34.3 percent in the first three months, 24.9 percentage points higher than the national average, data showed. The trade was mainly driven up by the increase of crude oil imports from Russia after a second line for the China-Russia oil pipeline began commercial operation on January 1.
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