Skip to content

Economy/Resources - 182. page

Xinhua: Nine Cities’ Assets Not Enough to Pay All Their Debts

Xinhua recently reported on the comments that a high ranking official of the National Audit Office made anonymously regarding local government debts. The official suggested that nine provinces’ capital cities suffered a debt level that exceeded 100 percent of their assets, which indicated a technical bankruptcy. However there has been no word from the National Audit Office on the names of these cities. Starting August 1, the Office conducted a sudden nationwide audit campaign on local governments’ debts. It has been a long term challenge for the central government to understand the size of the local governments’ debts due to the significant lack of transparency about local loans. Some professional firms identified the top 10 most likely cities based on available data: Nanjing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hefei, Kunming, Changsha, Wuhan, Haerbin, Xi’an, and Lanzhou. However the State Council Information Office stated, “China will never have the kind of bankruptcy Detroit just had.”
Source: Xinhua, August 6, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2013-08/06/d_125122362.htm
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China’s Current Organ Transplant Situation

On August 8, 2013, the State Health and Family Planning Commission of China announced the list of hospitals that have been approved to implement the human organ transplant project. They include the Beijing Union Medical College Hospital and the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, with a total of 165 hospitals nationwide. At present, China has become the world’s second largest organ transplantation country. Each year more than 8,000 transplant surgeries are performed. There is a huge gap between supply and demand. There are about 300,000 organ failure patients each year. 

Source: Xinhua, August 8, 2013 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/2013-08/08/c_116870528.htm
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Government Official: China Has Many Ghost Towns

Qiao Runling, Deputy Director of the Cities and Small Towns Reform and Development Center, which is under the National Development and Reform Commission, confirmed that “ghost towns” exist in many places in China.  

Qiao observed that many cities in China do not have businesses, markets, or residents. He stated that it is not just Ordos. “Many ‘ghost towns’ exist throughout China." There are even ghost towns between Beijing and Tianjin.
"According to our survey, vacancy rates in real estate development projects in some cities range between 40 and 60 percent. For the central and western regions the vacancy rates run as high as 70 to 80 percent." 
Source: Shanghai Securities News reprinted by Xinhua, August 7, 2013 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2013-08/07/c_125127835.htm
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Jeju’s Immigration Policy Makes Chinese the Largest Land Buyers in South Korea

Chinese have become most generous buyers in South Korea’s land market. As of the first quarter of this year, the area of Chinese-owned Korean land reached 5.7 million square meters, far more than that held by Europeans and Americans. What the Chinese want most out of the purchase of a property in Korea’s Jeju Island is immigration.

With Jeju’s weak economy, the island launched a preferential immigration policy. Starting in February 2010, as long as foreigners invest 500 million won (about 2.7 million yuan, US$0.37 million) in Jeju’s resorts, hotels, and other "residential facilities for the purpose of holidays and rest," they will be qualified to live on Jeju Island for five years, after which they will be granted permanent residency in South Korea, enjoying the same education and health insurance benefits as Korean citizens. After the implementation of this policy, the number of Chinese buyers increased substantially. Chinese-owned land increased from 49,000 square meters at the end of 2010 to 485,000 square meters at the end of March 2013, almost 10 fold in two years.

Chinese buyers of Jeju land come mainly from three areas. The first is northeast cities such as Shenyang; the second is from Beijing; and the third is the Yangtze River Delta cities, including Shanghai and Nanjing. All these three areas are within a two hour direct flight from Jeju.

Source: Beijing Youth Daily, reposted on Xinhua, August 8, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2013-08/08/c_125133562.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xinhua: Key National Banks Suffered Savings Account Money Reduction of One Trillion

Xinhua recently reported that the four largest state-owned banks had a decline of RMB one trillion (around US$163 billion) in customers’ savings accounts in the first three weeks of July alone. The speed at which these four banks approved loans also slowed significantly. These four largest banks are the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China, and China Construction Bank. Their savings account losses are (in RMB) 346 billion, 234 billion, 180 billion, and 250 billion, respectively. Experts expressed the belief that, due to the fact that customers are not putting their money into these banks, the pressure is high on the interest rate side. It will be more expensive to obtain loans. 
Source: Xinhua, July 25, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2013-07/25/c_125062433.htm
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Over 60 Percent of Ocean Sewage Outlets Exceed Limit

The National Oceanic Administration recently conducted inspections of 137 ocean sewage outlets. The inspection revealed that 86 or 62.8 percent of them had pollution levels that exceeded the ocean sewage standard. The concentrations of inorganic nitrogen, activated phosphate, and petroleum were higher than the standard. Tianjin ranked the highest with 85.7 percent of the total outlets failing the inspection; the next was Shandong Province at 73.6 percent. The percentages for Fujian, Liaoning, and Hebei were 60.9 percent, 50 percent and 40 percent respectively.

Source: Guangming Daily, August 4, 2013
http://politics.gmw.cn/2013-08/04/content_8499755.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China Development Bank: A State-owned Financial Institution Serving the State’s Interest

On July 31, Qiushi published an article by Hu Huabang, the Communist Party Secretary and Chairman of the China Development Bank (CDB), a State-own commercial bank, on the success of CDB as a State-owned financial institution serving the interest of the State. 

CDB provides medium to long-term financing in priority sectors and projects to implement China’s national economic strategy. Eighty percent of its financing is in the sectors of energy, agriculture, telecommunications, and public infrastructure and 60 percent is in midwest and northeastern traditional industrial bases. Further, it has financed major overseas energy projects in foreign countries, including Russia, Pakistan, and Turkey. 
According to Hu, currently in China, CDB is the largest bank for medium and long-term financing, the largest bond bank, the largest foreign investment and financing cooperative bank, and the largest development financial institution. 
Source: Qiushi, July 31, 2013 
http://www.qstheory.cn/jj/jcbw/201307/t20130731_254614.htm
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Excess Capacity Problems May Lead China to a Long-term Depression

On July 28, 2013, China Review News published an article on China’s excess capacity problems, where demand for products is less than the potential supply. The overcapacity of China’s industries has spread from traditional industries to emerging industries. In the first quarter of 2013, the capacity of China’s industrial enterprises that was actually utilized was only 78.2 percent. The capacity that has been utilized in some major industries has dropped below 75 percent, for example, building materials (72.5 percent), the railway, shipping, and other transportation equipment manufacturing industry (73.6 percent), and the coal mining industry (74.9 percent). There has been a definite and ongoing surplus in certain industries. In 2012, the overcapacity in China’s steel industry was 21 percent; cement’s overcapacity reached 28 percent; the overcapacity in electrolytic aluminum production reached 35 percent; and the overcapacity in the automobile industry was 12 percent. China’s solar photovoltaic cell production capacity accounts for 60 percent of what is needed for the whole world, but the excess capacity of PV cell production has reached 95 percent.

According to the article, excess capacity problems may lead China to a long-term depression. The article provides several suggestions on how to solve the problem, such as discouraging local governments from making further investments.

Source: China Review News, July 28, 2013
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1026/5/0/9/102650985.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=102650985&mdate=0728071042

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources