IN BRIEF (Page 10)

GUANGDONG

Trade growth down

Guangdong's foreign trade value fell to $47.14 billion in April, a decline of 18.1 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the provincial statistical bureau. But the value was 5.2 percent above the March level.

The province's trade value declined 21.7 percent year on year, but the rate of decline was 1.4 percentage points below the January-March level.

Its foreign direct investment in April totaled $1.64 billion, up 7.2 percent year on year, and reached $5.36 billion for the first four months, up 2.9 percent on the same period of last year.

Scholarship program

Plastics maker Borouge has signed an agreement with Guangzhou's South China University of Technology and East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai to sponsor the Borouge Undergraduate Scholarship program. Up to 15 undergraduates from each university will be eligible for the scholarship annually, with the top one or two Borouge Undergraduate Scholarship students at each university receiving additional two weeks of training at Borouge to provide them with hands-on company experience.

BEIJING

Top wine

Wine lovers had a chance to bid for top French wine in Beijing recently at the first-ever wine auction on the Chinese mainland.

Some 1,000 bottles of fine wine from France's renowned Bordeaux area were on auction at a starting price of several hundred to several thousand US dollars, according to Beijing Poly International Auction Co, Ltd.

TIANJIN

Railway network

The rail system in China's northern port city of Tianjin will expand to 470 km of track by 2020, according to a plan approved by the municipal government.

Tianjin, about 120 km southeast of Beijing, now has one subway line and a light rail line that together total 70 km. Two more subway lines and an extension of the light rail system that will add 58 km are now under construction.

The city plans to have 11 metro lines covering 410 km by 2015 and 14 lines totaling 470 km by 2020.

MACAO

Financial support

In a move to help local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) restructure and innovate, the Executive Council of the Macao Special Administrative Region has adopted an administrative regulation that will amend the interest rate subsidy on business financing credit.

With the exception of companies operating under public concessions, the new interest subsidy will be extended to cover all economic activities.

HONG KONG

Currency deposits

Hong Kong's total deposits with authorized institutions rose 0.3 percent in April, with Hong Kong dollar deposits up 0.8 percent, as the expansion in savings deposits exceeded the contraction in demand and time deposits, Hong Kong Monetary Authority said.

Foreign-currency deposits shrank 0.1 percent, the authority said.

Total loans and advances fell 0.5 percent, with loans for use in Hong Kong falling 0.7 percent but loans for use outside Hong Kong rose 0.6 percent. The Hong Kong dollar loan-to-deposit ratio dropped to 74.7 percent from 75.5 percent in March as Hong Kong- dollar loans contracted as deposits rose.

(China Daily 06/08/2009 page10)