China to ‘open further’ to foreign investment

    CHINA will further open up its economy to foreign investors, Zhong Shan, the country’s new commerce minister, said Monday, according to Xinhua.

    Zhong hopes foreign companies will play a bigger role in boosting China’s slowing economy. The government has been looking to increase foreign investment after outbound investment surpassed inbound funding last year for the first time. Zhong was appointed head of the Ministry of Commerce on Friday, replacing Gao Hucheng. Zhong said China aims this year to develop free trade zones, improve the business environment and push forward reforms of foreign investment management, according to Xinhua.

    Foreign firms ‘able to repatriate profits normally’

    THE central bank reiterated yesterday that foreign companies were able to repatriate profits normally, responding to what it said were media reports claiming they had difficulty transferring profits back home.

    The State Administration of Foreign Exchange also posted the same announcement on its microblog. Authorities said in January that repatriation of normal profits by foreign-invested firms would not be restricted.

    Total energy consumption up 1.4% in 2016

    CHINA’S total energy consumption grew 1.4 percent to 4.36 billion tons of standard coal in 2016, according to the National Bureau of Statistics yesterday.

    Total energy production was down 4.2 percent compared with the previous year at 3.46 billion tons of coal equivalent, the statistics bureau said in its annual statistical bulletin. The share of coal in China’s total energy consumption mix stood at 62 percent in 2016, it said. The figure for 2015 was 64 percent, according to last year’s bulletin.

    Shanshui Cement defaults on US$146m bond

    SHANDONG Shanshui Cement Group has defaulted on a 1 billion yuan (US$146 million) bond, underwriter China Merchants Bank said Monday, the latest Chinese company unable to repay debt as economic growth slows.

    Shanshui Cement hasn’t been able to raise enough money to fully repay the three-year debt due Monday. Shanshui has already defaulted several times since 2015.