China to speed up natural resource price reforms

China will likely accelerate reforms of natural resource commodities pricing, according to a new proposal from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China Securities Journal reported Wednesday. The State Council, China’s cabinet, recently approved…

Economy to grow by 9.3% this year: World Bank

BEIJING – The economy will maintain its high growth levels and the government still has plenty of room to further tighten monetary policy, World Bank economists said on Wednesday. The economy is predicted to grow…

CBRC announces measures to aid small businesses

 The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) on Tuesday announced a series of favorable policies for lenders to offer more loans to small-scale enterprises. The move is designed to alleviate the financial pressure on smaller businesses…

Trade and the RMB

Most of last week’s newsletter was dedicated to a discussion on Chinese debt, specifically on how we should think about the Chinese debt structure and on when would we know how much debt is too…

Local government debt higher than first thought

China’s local government-backed financing vehicles had total debt of 14 trillion yuan ($2.16 trillion) at the end of last year, higher than market estimations, but fears over the effect that defaults could have are exaggerated,…

Advertising in China: What’s New, What’s Not

It seems many of the big Chinese ad agencies are not headed up by Chinese people. Why is this the case? Did Westerners bring the “advertising industry” with them? The first clients who advertised big…

Managing China’s Rapid Rise

China has rapidly become a ‘rich-poor’ country that defies easy categorization, and the impact of its dramatic but uneven growth has created many challenges. China’s future path appears frustratingly unpredictable to the outside world, but…

Beijing Pays a Price for Controls

China sells water and power cheaply. It now has to suffer shortages. The Yangtze River area is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. And the shortage isn’t merely in fresh water needed for factories…