Quick look

China's economy slows

China's economic growth slowed to 9 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, the lowest in five years. It grew at 10.1 percent in the second quarter and 10.6 percent in the first quarter. The industrial production growth slowed to about 8 percent in the year to October, the first time it has been in single digit since the end of 2001.

Broad money supply slumps

China's broad money supply grew 15 percent in October, the slowest pace in three years, a sign economists said shows the economy is in sharp slowdown. The growth of M2 - the broadest measure, which includes cash and all deposits, fell from September's 15.3 percent to 45.31 trillion yuan at the end of October, the central bank People's Bank of China said last week. Yuan-denominated lending rose 14.6 percent year-on-year at the end of October, up 0.1 percent from the previous months, the bank says.

Traffic infrastructure upgrade

Beijing's traffic infrastructure budget in the next five years will be more than the one for the previous five years, said Liu Xiaoming, director of the Beijing municipal committee of communications. The city will spend 240 billion yuan by 2012 to upgrade its traffic infrastructure. "In the five years before the Olympics, the city had spent 170 billion yuan. We will make sure our investment on transport infrastructure is no less than 5 percent of our GDP in the coming few years," he says.

Power consumption dips

The State Electricity Regulatory Commission said last week the country's power consumption grew 9.67 percent in the first nine months of the year, with the growth rate falling 5.45 percent year-on-year. China's GDP growth was 9.9 percent in September and power consumption grew 9.7 percent, the first time power consumption growth had been lower than GDP growth for a decade.

Exports growth declines

China's exports continue to rise although growth has slowed because of the global economic downturn, the customs figures showed last week. Exports reached $128.3 billion in October, up 19.2 percent year-on-year, but down from the 21.5 percent increase for September and the 22.3 percent rise for the first three quarters of the year.

Nine new nuke plants planned

At least nine nuclear power plants (NPP) will be built over the next two years, the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) said last week. With the four NPP projects currently under construction, the scale of building nuclear power plants in China is "large and unprecedented," CAEA official Song Gongbao says. "It shows China's focus is clearly on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving sustainable development," he says. The new plants will help achieve the country's goal of having 40 million kilowatts of installed nuclear capacity by 2020, which will account for 4 percent of the total generating capacity.

CPI continues to decline

Consumer price index (CPI) eased to an 18-month low in October, giving room for the government to introduce further interest rate cuts to boost the economy. The consumer price index rose 4 percent year-on-year in the past month, declining for the sixth consecutive month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. "Consumer prices are now on the downward track," said Chen Jianqi, an economist with Bank of Communications. "Price growth may turn negative in January and we may even have to deal with deflation."

FDI goes up 35%

Foreign direct investment (FDI) kept rising in October, but at a slower clip, pointing to a decline in capital inflows amid global economic turbulence. FDI for the first 10 months went up 35 percent to $81.1billion, compared to 45.6 percent for the first half of the year, the Ministry of Commerce said on its website last week. The ministry did not release the figure for October, but previous data show overseas investors pumped in $74.4 billion during the first nine months, suggesting the October inflow was $6.7 billion, down slightly from $6.78 billion for the same month last year.

China-Iraq oil JV

China and Iraq have signed an agreement to jointly develop an oilfield in the Middle East country, which is among Iraq's first batch of joint-venture oil projects since the US-led invasion in 2003. China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) signed the agreement on the project with the Iraq's oil ministry on November 10, said a company statement last week. The deal was worth $2.9 billion, Xinhua News Agency said. Under the agreement China's largest oil company will help Iraqi partners develop the Al-Ahdab oilfield, 180 km southeast of Baghdad.

450b yuan for airport projects

A total of 450 billion yuan will be spent on at least 60 airport projects, which will start in the next two years, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said last week. At least 40 of the projects will start next year and incur an expenditure of 200 billion yuan. Existing airports in Shanghai Pudong, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Nanjing will be expanded, and new ones will be built in many insland cities, including Yan'an in Shaanxi province and Daocheng in Sichuan province.

(China Daily 11/17/2008 page2)