IN BRIEF (Page 10)

Business climate chillier

Beijing's business climate index fell to 108.9, the lowest level since 2003 in the fourth quarter of 2008, as economic conditions deteriorated sharply, the Beijing municipal bureau of statistics said.

The index ranges from zero to 200. A reading above 100 shows economic expansion, while a reading below 100 indicates contraction. The survey began in 1998.

This was a result of multiple factors such as the Olympic Games, the government's macro-control measures and the global economic crisis, the bureau said. The index for industry was 92, down from 135.9 points in the second quarter.

Macao jobless rate

Macao's unemployment rate for the whole of 2008 stood at 3 percent, down 0.1 percentage point over 2007, according to the latest figures released by the city's Statistics and Census Service.

The figure for the fourth quarter of last year stood at 3.3 percent, and the underemployment rate reached 1.7 percent.

In the fourth quarter, the total labor force was 337,000, with the labor force participation rate standing at 70.7 percent. Among the unemployed, 17.2 percent were searching for their first job, down 3.3 percentage points over the previous period between September and November 2008.

No emission fee plans

Beijing has no plans to impose vehicle emission fees this year, said Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the city's environmental protection bureau.

Du made the announcement in response to local media reports about possible fees on vehicle emissions. He said the Ministry of Environmental Protection had been levying fees for discharge of water and air, and noise pollution, but it had yet to issue a policy on vehicle emissions.

Beijing tourism 'bullish'

Tourism in Beijing appeared "bullish" during the Spring Festival, according to figures released by the city's tourism bureau.

During the Spring Festival holiday, from Jan 25 to 31, the city received about 3.24 million domestic tourists, a record high and up 20 percent from last year, the bureau said in a press release. Beijing reported 2.1 billion yuan in tourism revenue during the week. The bureau reported that the average tourist spent 2,065 yuan, 90 yuan more than last year.

Rural road investment

Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is planning to invest 3.5 billion yuan this year in its rural highways, the regional transport department said.

The money will be used to build and upgrade 11,000 km of highways, enabling 80 towns to have access to asphalt roads and 400 villages to be connected to the highway network, the department said. Xinjiang invested 3.2 billion yuan in rural highways last year, benefiting around 2 million rural residents. The region has invested 13.4 billion yuan in building and upgrading 55,000 km of rural highways over the past decade.

Soybean procurement

The grain administration of Heilongjiang province plans to procure an additional 2.5 billion kg of locally grown soybeans before the end of April to help stabilize soybean prices in the domestic market, sources reported.

The province, which began buying soybeans last autumn, plans to hold soybean stock totaling 4.53 billion kg.

(China Daily 02/16/2009 page10)