摘要
TO THE POINT: The substantial rise in foreign direct investment (FDI)—10 percent—and fixed assets invest- ment—25 percent—was the last straw that prompted the Chinese Government to take action by instituting a package of policies aimed at taming the overheating economy and excessive liquidity. The Chinese central bank raised lending and deposit interest rates for the second time this year, and the reserve requirement ratio was raised for the fifth time this year. They also allowed the daily yuan exchange rate to float within 0.5 percent from the previous mark of 0.3 percent. Such a monetary policy package is unprecedented and demon- strates the central bank’s determination to let air out of the hot markets. In April, foreign trade rebounded and the trade surplus hit $16.68 billion, $10 billion more than what it was in March. However, as a research report revealed, some of the trade surplus was actually driven by fake trade, through which international speculative money flowed to the Chinese mainland. The rising trade surplus contributed to increasing foreign exchange (forex) reserves. The Chinese Government has decided to invest $3 billion of its forex reserves into U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group LP, demonstrating that the country is finding alternatives for its mounting forex reserves instead of just buying U.S. treasury bonds. The second round of the China-U.S. strategic economic dialogue has achieved positive results. In the financial sector, China agreed to increase the quota QFIIs can invest in the Chinese capital market from $10 billion to $30 billion.
TO THE POINT: Chinese economic performance in thefirst quarter was impressive. Imports and exportsduring this period stood at $457.74 billion, up 23.
