Briefly

Airfreight surges by 10.5% in January

China's civil aviation industry handled 669,000 metric tons of airfreight in January, up 10.5 percent on a yearly basis, according to the civil aviation authorities. Air cargo transport showed a sound growth momentum in the country with freight volume increasing on domestic and international routes, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China. Notably, all-cargo freighters contributed 281,000 tons of airfreight traffic in January, up 67.7 percent on a yearly basis.

PBOC issues 25b yuan of bills in Hong Kong

China's central bank issued 25 billion yuan ($3.87 billion) worth of bills in Hong Kong on Friday. Among the total, 10 billion yuan worth of bills will mature in three months, and 15 billion yuan of bills will mature in 12 months, with the respective interest rates standing at 2.7 percent and 2.74 percent, according to the People's Bank of China.

UnionPay transactions increase 4.8%

Chinese bankcard company China UnionPay said its total transaction value rose by 4.8 percent on a yearly basis to 1.38 trillion yuan ($213.4 billion) during the Spring Festival holiday period. Spending by people who stay put at their places of work accounted for the bulk of the purchases, 13.6 percentage points higher than the spending in the same period a year ago, the company said. Chongqing municipality, Jiangxi province and Qinghai province saw the fastest growth in consumption expenditure on a yearly basis of more than 15 percent each.

Xinhua - China Daily