2008 November
Politics and Economics
China fears unrest amid slowdown
BBC, 28/11/2008
The accelerating economic slowdown in China will lead to huge unemployment and could fuel social unrest, China's top planner has said. Zhang Ping, head of the National Development and Reform...
Politics and Economics
China’s currency reserves may rise to $2 trillion
Bloomberg, 27/11/2008
China’s foreign-exchange reserves will “hopefully” reach $2 trillion this year, National Bureau of Statistics chief economist Yao Jingyuan said. Yao spoke in a telephone interview...
Politics and Economics
China bows to inevitable slashing interest rates
The Times, 27/11/2008
China announced the biggest single cut in interest rates since the Asian financial crisis of 1997 yesterday, as it acknowledged the damage that the global downturn was causing to its surging...
Politics and Economics
Beijing presses banks to increase capital
The Financial Times, 26/11/2008
Chinese regulators have asked the country’s banks to increase the amount of capital they have on hand in anticipation of deteriorating growth and expectations that the state-owned banks will be...
Politics and Economics
Growth expected to hit 19-year low despite stimulus
The Guardian, 26/11/2008
Growth in China will slow to the lowest rate for almost two decades next year, the World Bank predicted yesterday. It cut its 2009 GDP growth forecast from 9.2% to 7.5%, amid concerns that the sharp...
Trade & Supply Chain
Ship comes in for trade financiers
The Wall Street Journal, 25/11/2008
Credit Crisis Drives Import-Export Firms to Alternative Sources of Funds
As the financial crisis chokes credit and corporate profits, specialist trade-finance firms have it so good that they...
Politics and Economics
W. Bank cuts China GDP forecast as crisis bites
The Guardian, 25/11/2008
The World Bank cut its 2009 growth forecast for China on Tuesday, projecting the slowest pace of expansion since 1990 as the impact of global financial turmoil intensifies and the real estate sector...
Trade & Supply Chain
OECD backs export credit support
The Financial Times, 25/11/2008
The United States, European Union, Brazil and Russia will on Monday join Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries in pledging support for export credit to ensure liquidity...
Politics and Economics
Asia stocks bounce off five-year lows
The Financial Times, 21/11/2008
Shares in Asia Pacific bounced off five-year lows as oil’s fall below $50 a barrel overnight deepened fears of recession and the S&P 500 index in New York closed at an 11½-year low. Finance and...
Politics and Economics
Beijing forecasts grim employment outlook
The Financial Times, 21/11/2008
China’s employment outlook is becoming “grim”, say officials, as the global financial crisis triggers fresh factory closures in the export sector. Urban unemployment has begun to...
Communication and Culture
How the financial crisis is changing China
The Financial Times, 20/11/2008
China this year celebrates the 30th anniversary of the economic reforms launched by Deng Xiaoping and there are plenty of reasons to think the country could enjoy another 30 years of high growth.
Politics and Economics
China overtakes Japan on US debt
The Financial Times, 19/11/2008
China has finally overtaken Japan as the largest foreign holder of US government debt. The latest monthly Treasury International Capital (tic) data showed that China’s holdings of Treasury bills,...
Industry and Manufacturing
EU, China and US in toy safety accord
The Financial Times, 19/11/2008
Officials from China, the US and the European Union on Monday agreed to work towards synchronising safety standards for children’s toys in the first trilateral summit on product safety. The...
Politics and Economics
China moves to stem mass layoffs
BBC, 19/11/2008
Companies in two Chinese provinces, Shandong and Hubei, have been told they must seek official consent if they want to lay off more than 40 people. The order highlights the Chinese authorities'...
Politics and Economics
Asian stocks drop for second day as job cuts mount; banks fall
Bloomberg, 18/11/2008
Asian stocks fell for a second day, led by financial and technology companies, on heightening concern that the global recession is worsening. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. slumped 6.7 percent,...
Politics and Economics
China has aircraft carrier hopes
BBC, 18/11/2008
A senior Chinese defence official has told a British newspaper that any great power would want an aircraft carrier. Major General Qian Lihua, director of the ministry's Foreign Affairs Office,...
Politics and Economics
China Securities Journal
Reuters, 17/11/2008
China's economic growth will slow in the first half of next year to its lowest in nearly 20 years, Bank of China Executive Vice President Zhu Min told a financial conference in Beijing. He...
Politics and Economics
Gap between China's rich and poor 'threatening economy '
The Telegraph, 17/11/2008
While indicators of prosperity such as income, health and education levels in rich cities like Shanghai were approaching those of some European nations, other regions ranked with African countries...
Politics and Economics
Official: China trying to prevent 'sharp downturn'
Associated Press, 14/11/2008
Weakness in China's economy is worsening and the government faces a severe challenge as it tries to avert a sharp downturn, an official said Friday, as new data showed investment growth...
Communication and Culture
China eases restrictions of financial information
International Herald Tribune, 14/11/2008
China agreed Thursday to loosen restrictions on foreign news and information providers inside the country, settling a trade dispute with the United States, the European Union and Canada. The...
Politics and Economics
China's 4% Fall in Electricity Output May Portend Worse Economic Slump
The Wall Street Journal, 14/11/2008
China reported its first decline in monthly electricity output in four years, one of the strongest signs so far that the country's economic slowdown may be worse than thought. The 4% decline in...
Politics and Economics
Asian shares hit as grim news abounds
Washington Post, 13/11/2008
Germany has fallen into recession and China industry output growth dropped to its lowest in seven years, data showed on Thursday, reinforcing fears the financial crisis is plunging the world into a...
Politics and Economics
Tax rebates raised for Chinese exporters
Financial Times, 13/11/2008
China, worried by slowing growth and widespread reports of factory closures, is to step up support for manufacturers by raising the export tax rebates paid on more than 3,700 types of goods. The...
Politics and Economics
Giggest gain in China's retail sales since Bloomberg data began
Bloomberg, 12/11/2008
China's retail sales rose 22 percent, close to the fastest pace in nine years, signaling that domestic demand may help the fourth-biggest economy withstand a looming global recession.
Trade & Supply Chain
China's trade surplus hits new record as exports show resilience
Financial Times, 12/11/2008
China's trade surplus grew to another record last month as the its exporters continued to show greater than expected resilience in the face of a global slowdown.
The politically...
Industry and Manufacturing
Chinese trade surplus hits record
BBC, 11/11/2008
China's trade surplus rose to $35.2bn (£22.48bn) in October, hitting a record for a third month in a row, official figures show.
The surplus - the difference between the value of...
Politics and Economics
Emerging Economies Pledge Stimulus to Fight Slump
Bloomberg, 10/11/2008
Finance ministers from emerging economies said they will take new measures to tackle the global economic slowdown at a meeting of the Group of 20 nations in Sao Paulo yesterday.
Brazil,...
Politics and Economics
Japan, emerging markets, banks all in firing line
Reuters, 10/11/2008
Mounting economic gloom swept through Japan and several emerging nations on Monday and European banks bore the scars of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
Rating agency Fitch cut...
Politics and Economics
China unleashes massive budget to ward off crisis
Globe and Mail, 10/11/2008
China has announced an ambitious $586-billion (U.S.) plan to bolster its faltering economy, focusing on domestic demand as the key to salvaging the extraordinary growth rates that have turbocharged...
Industry and Manufacturing
Global slowdown hits trade at China export fair: report
AFP, 07/11/2008
Export contracts sealed at a major trade fair in China declined by almost 16 percent as overseas buyers cut budgets amid the ongoing global economic downturn, state media reported Friday.
The...
Politics and Economics
Hard Landing In China?
Forbes, 07/11/2008
Nouriel Roubini
For the last few years, the global economy has been running on two engines: the U.S. on the consumption side and China on the production side, both lifting the entire global...
Politics and Economics
Asian growth is slowing 'but only to levels that the West would give its eyeteeth for'
The Times, 05/11/2008
Decoupling was the buzz word last year among commentators desperate for light in the financial gloom. It described the detatchment Asian economies had achieved from the West that would enable them...
Trade & Supply Chain
Taiwan and China sign flight and cargo agreements
Reuters, 04/11/2008
Top officials from Taiwan and China signed deals on daily direct flights, new cargo routes and food safety on Tuesday during Beijing's highest-level visit to its political rival in 60 years.
Politics and Economics
It's semi official: China can't escape the world slowdown
Telegraph, 04/11/2008
The purchasing managers’ index for manufacturing fell to its all-time low in October. The 44.6 reading suggests a contraction ahead. The country’s export engine is not powerful enough to...
Politics and Economics
Commerce becalmed over letters of credit
The Times, 03/11/2008
The credit drought is undermining international trade in goods and raw materials with savage increases in the cost of funding for exporters. At the same time, buyers of goods are being denied access...
Politics and Economics
China-Trade Issue Thrust Into Races as Vote Nears
The Wall Street Journal, 03/11/2008
WASHINGTON -- Trade with China is re-emerging as an issue in the final days of the 2008 campaign, as politicians on both sides of the aisle push for a toughened U.S. policy toward the Asian economic...
Politics and Economics
China toy firms are the latest to suffer
Times Online, 03/11/2008
The downturn and tough new safety rules are taking their toll
CHRISTMAS is coming but there is little cheer for thousands of Chinese toy factories that shipped their goods months ago and are...
Industry and Manufacturing
China manufacturing conditions at record low: CLSA survey
MarketWatch, 03/11/2008
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Business condition in China's manufacturing sector deteriorated at a record pace in October during a sharp decline in orders from overseas customers, according to a...
