|
BIZCHINA> Survey/Opinion
![]() |
|
World Bank maintains China's 11.3% GDP growth forecast
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-11-15 16:51 Faced with worsening fuel shortages in the country, China raised petrol, diesel and jet fuels prices by nearly 10 percent to about $76 a barrel to boost domestic supplies but its wholesale petrol prices are still lower than the international average of $102. This means the Chinese government has to continue offering large amount of subsidies to refineries to cover losses they incur by selling oil at State-set prices. The government subsidized Sinopec, the nation's largest refinery company, to the tune of $1.2 billion in 2005 and 640 million dollars in 2006. In the meantime, soaring oil prices add to the financial burden for enterprises and individuals, and likewise increase inflationary risks. China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 6.5 percent year-on-year in October. The impact of the US subprime crisis and the renewed surge in oil prices have clearly increased downside risks, but the stronger growth momentum in the region is expected to carry through 2008, said Milan Brahmbhatt, the report's lead author. The bank stood by its forecast for the galloping Chinese growth in 2008 of a slightly lower 10.8 percent and predicted only a moderately slowdown from 2007 in East Asia's economies growth in 2008. According to the report, emerging East Asia experienced its largest increase in foreign exchange reserves during 2007. Forex reserves for the nine largest economies increased by $451 billion in the first nine months, reaching $2.5 trillion. China claimed four-fifths of the regional reserve increase this year with $367.3 billion, as its total forex reserve has topped $1.43 trillion by the end of September. As reported on November 7, the nation has set up a State forex investment company, China Investment Corporate Ltd (CIC), to mitigate the risks in its huge foreign exchange reserve. The company, with $200 billion in registered capital and $208 billion from special treasury bond sale by the Ministry of Finance, would not buy into overseas airlines, telecommunications or oil companies, China's Vice-Minister of Finance Li Yong said on November 7. It will use one third of its capital to purchase Central Huijin, which now controls China's major State-owned commercial banks, another third to replenish the capital of the Agricultural Bank of China and China Development Bank, and the remaining third to invest in global financial markets, he added. A highlight of the WB report is that for the first time, the number of poor people living with less than two dollars a day in East Asia has fallen below 500 million, down from 1 billion in 1990. In percentage terms this means the poverty head-count rate is estimated to have fallen to about 27 percent, down from 29.5 percent in 2006 and 69 percent in 1990, said the report. (For more biz stories, please visit Industries)
|
寻乌县| 任丘市| 宣武区| 会宁县| 黔西县| 莱阳市| 报价| 叙永县| 铜山县| 永平县| 台州市| 延安市| 肇州县| 岑溪市| 永年县| 丹江口市| 隆化县| 英德市| 图片| 阿城市| 许昌市| 绵竹市| 苗栗市| 林西县| 鄱阳县| 大新县| 高陵县| 广平县| 彰武县| 樟树市| 沂南县| 岳阳市| 炉霍县| 祥云县| 师宗县| 哈巴河县| 宜兰市| 房产| 固阳县| 克山县| 肇源县|