Fiscal policy

THE country’s finance minister said China will adopt a more proactive fiscal policy but will not resort to a deluge of strong stimulus policies.

Minister of Finance Liu Kun said the fiscal policy should be more forward-looking, flexible and effective to play a bigger role in boosting demand, restructuring the economy and promoting high-quality development. Liu said the proactive fiscal policy will prioritize four sectors, namely cutting taxes and fees, improving weak links, boosting consumption and improving people’s livelihoods.

Investment slumps

CHINESE investment in Australia plunged 40 percent in 2017 from the year before, according to research released yesterday.

After peaking in 2016 at A$14.9 billion (US$10.5 billion), investment from Chinese companies last year slumped to A$8.9 billion, according to the Australian National University database. The report doesn’t offer explanations for last year’s steep decline in investment. Collating data between 2014 and 2017 showed State-owned enterprises accounted for about 47 percent of total Chinese investment in Australia, the university said.

Telecom sector

CHINA’S telecommunication industry has grown steadily with the number of cellphone users growing rapidly in the first eight months of 2018, official data showed.

The accumulated business revenue of the industry reached 888.1 billion yuan (US$129.3 billion) in the January-August period, up 3.3 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.