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Shanghai mulls social credit system rules

Shanghai lawmakers are deliberating a draft regulation on the establishment of a social credit system. The draft, which had its first reading by the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress this week, stipulates concepts of credit-related information, rules to collect and share the information, as well as rewards and punishment. According to the draft regulation, the collection of income, deposits, marketable securities, commercial insurance, real estate information and tax should be only allowed with the providers' written consent.

Ministry stresses foreign investment

More sectors will be open to foreign investment, an important stimulus for China's real economy, the Ministry of Commerce has said. In 2017 a larger share of capital inflow will be directed to high-end manufacturing, a key part of the real economy, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said at a national commerce work conference concluding on Tuesday. Investment access restrictions will be lowered for general manufacturing as well, he added.

More tax cuts expected to take place in 2017

Chinese businesses will see further tax reductions in the next year as a result of the newly value-added tax (VAT) system, an official said on Tuesday. China's VAT was introduced nationwide in May to replace business tax. The new tax saved businesses 470 billion yuan ($68 billion) in the first 11 months of the year, on track to meet the government's end-of-year target of 500 billion yuan.

China's e-commerce to top 38 trillion yuan

China said on Tuesday it aims to expand e-commerce transactions to more than 38 trillion yuan ($5.5 trillion) by 2020, up from 21.8 trillion yuan in 2015. By 2020, China's online population will surpass 1 billion, growing by 7.8 percent a year from 2015, according to a State Council five-year informatization plan. Information industry revenue is expected to grow by an average of 8.9 percent each year from 2015 to hit 26.2 trillion yuan by 2020. By then 90 percent of villages in poverty will be covered by internet services, 12 percentage points more than that in 2015.

SOE profits rise 2.8% in first 11 months

Profits of China's State-owned enterprises rose 2.8 percent in the first 11 months of the year compared with growth of 0.4 percent in the first 10 months, official data showed on Wednesday. The SOEs made combined profits of 2.11 trillion yuan ($305.8 billion) for January-November, the Ministry of Finance said. Profits of SOEs under central government control fell 2.8 percent while those for locally administered SOEs climbed 16.9 percent year-on-year in the same period, both better than the performances in the first 10 months.

Regulator approves new private banks

China's banking regulator on Tuesday gave approval to five new private banks, bringing the total number of private lenders to 16. The five banks will be in Beijing, Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning and Shandong, according to the China Banking Regulatory Commission website. Each of the banks will be co-sponsored by at least two private capital providers. Notably, two of them will be headquartered in China's northeastern region - Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces - a traditional industrial base bearing the brunt of the country's economic slowdown.

Nation's 2016 energy consumption to rise

China's energy consumption is expected to reach 4.36 billion metric tons of coal equivalent in 2016, up 1.4 percent year-on-year, an official said. Non-fossil fuel consumption accounts for 13.3 percent of the total amount, up 1.3 percentage points year-on-year, as China encourages users to switch from coal and oil to cleaner fuels, Nur Bekri, director of the National Energy Administration, told a conference. The country aims to raise the ratio of non-fossil fuel consumption to 14.3 percent in 2017, while cutting the ratio of coal to around 60 percent, he added.

Delta drops Boeing Dreamliner order

Delta Air Lines Inc scrapped an order for 18 Boeing Co's widebody Dreamliner jets valued at $4 billion at list prices, a commitment that was inherited with the company's 2008 merger with Northwest Airlines. Atlanta-based Delta reached an agreement with Boeing on the cancellation, without disclosing terms, according to a statement from the carrier on Tuesday. The airline is sticking with orders already in progress for 120 narrow-body Boeing 737-900ERs. The 787-8 Dreamliners had been on Delta's order book since the Northwest Airlines deal.

Footwear sector fails to meet export target

Vietnam's footwear sector is expected to witness a growth of 8 percent in export revenue, instead of the targeted 10 percent in 2016, according to Vietnam Customs on Tuesday. As of Dec 15, Vietnam has raked in over $12.3 billion from exports of footwear and over $2.99 billion dollars of suitcases, bags and umbrellas. Compared to the target of $17 billion set in early 2016, it is unlikely that the country will make it this year, reported Bao Dau Tu (Vietnam Investment Review) online newspaper on Tuesday.

Mortgage loan rates at 10-month high

Rates for mortgage loans among South Korean banks rose to the highest in 10 months, amid the expected three rate hikes next year in the United States, central bank data showed on Wednesday. Rates for home-backed loans offered by banks stood at an annualized rate of 3.04 percent in November, up 0.15 percentage points from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea. It was the highest since January, keeping an upward momentum for four months in a row after a rebound in 2.66 percent in July to 2.70 percent in August.

Airbus A380 jets delayed for Emirates

Airbus Group SE's problems with its A380 superjumbo jet are deepening as the planemaker delayed deliveries of a dozen aircraft over the next two years to Emirates, the double-decker's biggest customer. To make up for the financial drag from the later handovers, Airbus will accelerate cost cuts, according to an emailed company statement on Tuesday. The delay stems from an agreement between Emirates and engine supplier Rolls-Royce Group Holdings Plc, the release said. Handovers of six A380s apiece that were originally planned for 2017 and 2018 will be shifted to a year later following a subsequent agreement with Emirates and Airbus, the planemaker said, adding it still plans to deliver about 120 A380s per year as of 2018.

Mexico gasoline prices to rise by up to 20%

Mexico will raise gasoline prices by as much as 20 percent in January, stoking inflation that's already running at the fastest pace in almost two years. A month after the increase is implemented, prices will start to adjust on a daily basis as the government loosens its control of the gasoline market, the Finance Ministry said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. January's increase in unleaded gas will be the biggest since November 1998.

China Dailya-Gencies

(China Daily 12/29/2016 page14)