Inflation in China is expected to remain high this year but within the target level of 4 percent, state press reported yesterday, citing China central bank deputy director Wu Xiaoling (
"As a result of increases in prices of raw materials, land and labor along with increases in the cost of production that have been passed along, there has been high inflation pressure," Wu said in a Shanghai Securities News report.
However, despite this, inflation should be controlled around 4 percent this year, Wu said.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
China's consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.9 percent last month from a year earlier, picking up far more sharply than expected after a slowdown in January.
For January, the CPI had risen only 1.9 percent as inflation progressively cooled from the high of 5.3 percent seen in the middle of last year and after 2.8 percent in December.
Wu also told the newspaper that in the first two months of the year "yuan bank loans in circulation and the overall economic situation were stable."
At the same time, Wu stressed that China must control the volume of loans being made to the real estate sector and that the industry must go to the capital markets if it seeks to raise funds.
China's central bank announced last week it would hike interest rates on home loans to cool an overheated housing market in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. State-run newspapers reported yesterday that authorities were now in the process of identifying which cities the new regulations would apply to.
The bank plans to raise the minimum rate for a mortgage loan of more than five years to 5.51 percent from 5.31 percent, while banks have been told to increase increase downpayments to 30 percent of a property's value instead of the current 20 percent.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
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