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Small businesses get loans of 35 trillion yuan

Outstanding loans by Chinese financial institutions to small and micro businesses stood at 35.15 trillion yuan ($5.1 trillion) at the end of May, data from China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission showed. Around 19.28 million small and micro businesses had received loans of no more than 10 million yuan each by the end of last month, up 6.6 million from the start of last year. With authorities encouraging loans to small and micro businesses to help support economic growth, the takeup of such loans has accelerated in recent years and lending rates kept falling.

Service outsourcing sees stable growth

China's service outsourcing industry reports stable growth in the first five months of this year, the latest data from the Ministry of Commerce showed. Chinese businesses agreed service outsourcing contracts worth 482.01 billion yuan ($72.2 billion) during the January-May period, up 19.3 percent year-on-year. Of the total, offshore service outsourcing contracts reached 306.11 billion yuan, rising 20.1 percent from a year earlier.

Nation becomes second largest bond market

China has become the world's second largest bond market after the United States, the latest statistics showed. Overseas institutions owned 1.88 trillion yuan ($273 billion) worth of Chinese bonds at the end of May, according to the Shanghai Clearing House and the China Central Depository & Clearing Co. Global investors continued to pile into Chinese bonds, adding a net 52.2 billion yuan in May. Apart from bonds, overseas institutions have also been buying up Chinese shares and funds over the recent years.

Pioneering hydrogen fuel station built

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, the world's largest refiner by volume, has built a pumping station in Foshan, Guangdong province, that combines hydrogen-refueling and retail sales of conventional fuels, the first of its kind in China, the company said on Monday. The station includes a daily hydrogen-refueling capacity of 500 kilograms and is intended mainly to service hydrogen-powered buses and truck fleets. It takes four minutes to fill the hydrogen tank of a bus with enough fuel to travel 300 kilometers.

Blank check company files for US public float

China Yunhong Holdings, a blank check company mainly targeting consumer or lifestyle assets in Asia, filed for an initial public offering on the US stock market. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq with an expectation to raise up to $50 million, according to its prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It intends to offer 5 million units at a price of $10 apiece, the company said in its filing. Each unit consists of one of its class A ordinary shares and one redeemable warrant.

Shanghai-Helsinki direct air route opens

Juneyao Air has opened Shanghai-Helsinki direct air route, providing nonstop intercontinental flight service with widebody aircraft. The new direct air route will offer more flexible and convenient flight experience to passengers, Juneyao Air said. The round-trip direct flight service is carried by B787 widebody aircraft each day, linking Shanghai in eastern China with the capital of Finland. Juneyao Air and Finnair have code-share cooperation on both the Shanghai-Helsinki intercontinental route and their domestic routes respectively in China and Finland.

Hellenic Bank net profit declines in first quarter

Hellenic Bank, the biggest retail lender in Cyprus, posted a net profit of 14.9 million euros ($16.9 million) in the first quarter of 2019, a year-on-year drop of 48 percent from a year ago; and 38 percent from that in Q4,2018, the lender's CEO Ioannis Matsis said. Matsis said the drop in the profit was caused by increased provisions of 20.1 million euros in Q1.Hellenic's Q1 profit before provisions was 35.9 million euros. Total lending in Q1 reached 177.2 million euros and the nonperforming exposures coverage ratio was 55.2 percent.

Mongolia sees sharp recovery in economy

Mongolia's economy witnessed a sharp recovery in growth thanks to a combination of buoyant external conditions and the government's spending restraints, the International Monetary Fund was quoted by the country's central bank as saying on Sunday. The Mongolian economy is now much stronger and there has been a significant improvement in the economy, said Geoff Gottlieb, who led an IMF team to the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar from June 19 to 28. "Mongolia's growth rate recovered sharply since 2016. The turnaround in real GDP growth was boosted by strong external demand for Mongolia's mineral exports, the resumption of the second phase of the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine and loosening monetary and credit conditions, "Gottlieb said.

British GDP up 1.8%on a quarterly basis

British gross domestic product grew by 1.8 percent in the first quarter 2019, compared with the same period a year earlier, according to figures released Friday by the Office for National Statistics. On the quarterly basis, British GDP rose by 0.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, compared with the previous quarter. In terms of the main sectors, services and construction grew by 0.4 percent and 1.4 percent in the first quarter.

Canada's oil and gas sectors fare well

Canada's economy grew 0.3 percent in April due to good performance in the oil and gas sectors, according to Statistics Canada. It is better than economists' expected 0.1 percent growth. The country's economy grew 0.5 percent in March. The quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector gained 4.5 percent in April, primarily due to a 5.5 percent rise in oil and gas extraction. Manufacturing industries rose 0.4 percent while service industries increased 0.2 percent.

Industrial production growth slows in Croatia

Industrial production in Croatia grew by 0.2 percent in May compared to the same month last year, which is a much slower growth compared to the previous months, according to data published by Croatian Bureau of Statistics. In April and March this year, industrial production growth in Croatia was three percent. In May, production of durable goods grew by 5.6 percent, while energy production increased by 1.2 percent. Nondurable products declined by 4.8 percent. The number of employees in the industry at the end of May was 1.1 percent lower than in April, and compared to May last year it was lower by 3.4 percent.

Vietnam's exports rise 7.3% in first six months

Vietnam reaped export turnover of more than $122.7 billion in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 7.3 percent, while seeing import turnover of almost $122.8 billion, up 10.5 percent, the General Statistics Office said. Specifically, Vietnam gained $23.5 billion from exporting phones and components, up 4 percent; $15.5 billion from electronic goods, computers and components, up 14.3 percent; $15 billion from garments and textiles, up 9.9 percent; and $8.8 billion from footwear, up 14.2 percent.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily Global 07/02/2019 page8)