Consumer price and disposable income up
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's Consumer Price Index edged up 0.1% in the first half of this year, a sign of improvement following continuous falls in the past two years. The disposable income of urban residents averaged RMB 3,208, a real rise of 7.7% from the same period of last year. Rural residents' cash income averaged RMB 1,013 during the same period, up 1.8%. (People's Daily, 18 July)

Fixed assets investment increases steadily
China's fixed assets investment in the first half this year increased by 11% to RMB 1,017.6 billion. Of the total, the state-owned sectors contributed RMB 753.8 billion (up 12.1%). (People's Daily, 18 July)

China's foreign exchange reserves up
China's foreign exchange reserves reached USD 158 billion by the end of May this year, USD 3.3 billion more than at the beginning of this year. The Chinese currency remained stable during the five-month period. (People's Daily, 18 July)

China issues technical guideline on urban waste water treatment
By the end of last year, only 31% of the waste water in urban China was treated by about 398 waste water treatment plants. According to the new guidelines, at least half of the waste water should be treated in towns and cities across China by 2010, while for some major cities at least 70% should be treated. Some experts believe that more than RMB 30 billion is needed each year during the coming 10 years to reach these targets. (Xinhua, 18 July)

China's CITIC Industrial Bank offers first national credit card
China International Trust and Investment Corp. is the first Chinese bank to offer a national credit card in the real sense of the term. Cardholders may now have a maximum credit line of RMB 50,000 for buying goods and receiving cash. (ChinaOnline, 18 July)

Motorola to invest USD 1.9 billion in China
The company intends to put most of its investment in its Tianjin company, to produce pagers, cellular phones and inter-phones. Motorola (China)'s sales volume last year was USD 30.9 billion, with profits of USD 1.3 billion. (Xinhua, 19 July)

US House approves annual renewal of normal trade relations with China
The House voted on the resolution because the Senate has yet to debate and vote on the granting of permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status to China. (Xinhua, 19 July) Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott announced that he would seek a final vote on PNTR in September. (South China Morning Post, 20 July)

At a press conference held on 19 July, Dai Xianglong, governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) touched several interesting subjects:
No change of bank interest rates; interest rate regime to be liberalized
PBOC is not considering a change in the current interest rate of bank savings and loans. Dai said that the seven consecutive interest rate cuts taken by his bank since 1999 have paid off in stimulating domestic consumption, reducing the burdens of state-owned enterprises and boosting the stock market. He added that the central bank planned to liberalise the country's interest rate regime in about three years.
Not timetable yet for the free trading of RMB
Although there is not yet a timetable for the free trading of RMB, great progress will be made in the next five years. "We will create conditions to gradually loosen the restrictions." These remarks confirmed market speculation that the central bank planned to widen the trading band in which the RMB is traded against the USD and other hard currencies.
Foreign banks encouraged to set up branches in Western China
To support economic development in the West, PBOC will lower the requirements for foreign banks when they set up branches in this area. The central bank is also considering setting up a bank with Sino-foreign joint investment to specially serve the development of the West.
Bankruptcy threat for Hainan International Trust and Investment Corp (Hitic)
Dai also mentioned that Hitic, which recently missed a payment on a 14.5 billion yen Samurai bond, could be forced into bankruptcy proceedings. This would constitute a reversal of Beijing's policy and will create friction with the Japanese creditor banks and individual investors who bought Hitic's bonds. It also signals the lengthy campaign to clean up the troubled trust sector has made little progress and further casualties can be expected. (South China Morning Post, 20 July)

Beijing's WTO bid still facing hurdles
Trade diplomats in Geneva said compilation of two key documents essential to wrap up the 14-year process was running into problems, with the U.S. and the EU sensing that China was trying to water down parts of agreements it had made with them. At the same time, some developing countries were insisting - despite China's objections - that their domestic industries should have the same protection against floods of Chinese imports. "It is far from over yet," said one key official. (Reuters, 20 July)

Amusement industry booms in China
China's amusement industry has witnessed a significant expansion since reforms were initiated and China began to open its doors to the rest of the world 20 years ago. The industry's revenue has increased over 30 times in the past decade. Each year about 350 million people visit China's amusement parks and palaces, pushing the industry's revenue to about USD 544 million in 1999. (People's Daily, 20 July)

Foreigners' contribution to Beijing individual tax revenues declining
In the first six months of this year, about RMB 620 million in individual income taxes were collected from about 6,600 foreigners, which equals roughly one-third of the individual income taxes collected in the Beijing. There has been a decline in the total amount and in the rate of increase, because foreign-invested companies and representative offices are localizing their staff and local employees' salaries are comparatively low. (ChinaOnline, 20 July)

Machinery, electronics products exports up 36.7% in first half
China imported and exported USD 93.22 billion worth of machinery and electronics products in the first six months of this year. This accounts for 43% of the total value of imports and exports. (ChinaOnline, 21 July)

Xi'an joins 57 other cities with a ban on motorcycles
As more cities ban motorcycles to prevent pollution and traffic problems, some estimate all 1.5 million people engaged in the manufacture, sales and service of motorcycles will be out of a job within 10 years. The entire industry, which currently produces 10 million motorcycles each year, could go under. (ChinaOnline, 21 July)

Real estate sector rises over first half year
Over the first half of this year, the real estate sector saw increasing investment, improving cash supply, growing land development areas and accelerating growth of the areas of newly-started and just-completed housing. Housing prices were on the rise during the period as the demand for apartments surged. The area of unsold housing was 81.15 million square meters by the end of June, increasing 17.7% over the same period of last year. (Xinhua, 21 July)