China's investment in factories, real estate and other urban assets rose 25.7 percent in the first three quarters of this year from the same period last year, a central bank official said yesterday, despite curbs meant to prevent runaway spending.
The Chinese government is trying to rein in domestic investment in the real estate sector and industries, including automakers and textile manufacturers, to control soaring housing prices and head off overspending that Chinese leaders worry could ignite a financial crisis.
The flood of money pouring in from China's exports, however, has made it difficult for Beijing to contain investment.
Wu Xiaoling (
In a statement on the bank's Web site, Wu also said retail sales were up 15.9 percent in the first nine months of the year compared to the year-earlier period.
China's consumer price index last month was 6.2 percent higher than the same month one year earlier.
The same figure was given by another government official last week. China's National Bureau of Statistics is expected to release official third-quarter economic data on Thursday.
The central bank has already said it expects inflation for the year to exceed the government's 3 percent target.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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