Briefly

China's forex reserves up in June

China's foreign exchange reserves came in at $3.193 trillion at the end of June, up from $3.1765 trillion from a month earlier, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Friday. The foreign exchange regulator attributed the increase in foreign exchange reserves to the combined impact of currency translation and asset price changes. China's foreign exchange reserves are expected to remain generally stable as the country sees a prominent trend of economic recovery and steadily pushes forward high-quality development, the regulator added.

Henan to build several expressways

Central China's Henan province, with over 109 million residents, is building more expressways in its 17 prefecture-level cities to boost travel. In its southwest, work on a 67-kilometer expressway is in progress. Its construction started in December 2021. In building the Nanyang-Dengzhou Expressway, China Railway No 4 Engineering Group Co Ltd has installed the first prefabricated box beam, 25 meters long, on Diaohe No 1 Bridge. Some 14 expressways, with a total length of 872 kilometers and costing 123.7 billion yuan ($17.2 billion), are being built in Henan. They will open in 2024 and 2025.

Auto sales may peak at 40 million units

China's annual auto sales are expected to peak at around 40 million units this year, said Fu Bingfeng, executive vice-president and secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Fu said the forecast was made at the 2023 China Auto Forum in Shanghai based on factors like China's large population basis and rich resources. As at the end of 2022, there were 226 vehicles per 1,000 people in China, Fu said at the three-day forum, which began on July 5. Fu said it is highly possible China's vehicle ownership per 1,000 people could reach 400 units by 2033 or thereabouts.

Public procurement value tops $6 trillion

China's public procurement value exceeded 48 trillion yuan ($6.67 trillion) in 2022, an industry report said on Friday. The active public procurement market has injected new growth momentum into China's economy, said the report released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. It has been a trend for public procurement activities to turn to supply chain management, the report said. China's public procurement stood at over 45 trillion yuan in 2021, according to a previous report released by the federation.

Xiamen-Paris direct flight launched

China's Xiamen Airlines on Thursday launched a direct flight linking Xiamen, a coastal city in East China's Fujian province, with Paris, France. The flight, the 12th intercontinental air route of Xiamen Airlines, will operate once a week, on Thursdays, according to the company. The opening of the direct air route will facilitate economic and trade exchanges and tourism between the two cities, the company said.

RMB strengthens against greenback

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 44 pips to 7.2054 against the US dollar on Friday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day. The central parity rate of the yuan against the US dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.

Xinhua - China Daily