China’s state planner unveils steps to boost private investment | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Economy

China’s state planner unveils steps to boost private investment

Published

 on

National Development and Reform Commission says it wants to attract more private capital for major projects.

China’s state planner has unveiled measures to spur private investment in infrastructure and strengthen financing for private projects.

The latest announcement on Monday comes after China last week released guidelines aimed at making the private sector “bigger, better and stronger” amid a flagging post-pandemic economic recovery.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement that it wants to attract more private capital to participate in the construction of major projects.

The NDRC said a list of sectors ranging from transport, water, clean energy and advanced manufacturing to agriculture will be open to private investors, according to the statement. More specific details on this will be provided later, it added.

Over the past several weeks, investors have been betting on more stimulus measures to prop up an economy that has started to rapidly lose momentum following the initial post-COVID bounce. However, some piecemeal steps announced by the authorities have underwhelmed markets.

In the guidelines released last week, China said it will create a “traffic light” system to make clear the areas in which private investors can invest.

“Significance of improving private investment should be fully recognised” and the NDRC will strive to keep the proportion of private fixed-asset investment among all investment at a “reasonable level”, the statement said.

Private fixed-asset investment shrank by 0.2 percent in the first six months from a year earlier, in contrast with an 8.1 percent rise in investment by state entities, official data showed last week, highlighting weak private sector confidence.

The NDRC also pledged to strengthen financial support for private-invested projects.

A special fund from the central government budget will be set up by the NDRC to give annual support for 20 cities with high private investment growth and strong policy implementation, the statement said.

 

Source link

Continue Reading

Economy

PBO projects deficit exceeded Liberals’ $40B pledge, economy to rebound in 2025

Published

 on

 

OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.

However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.

The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.

The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.

The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Economy

Statistics Canada says levels of food insecurity rose in 2022

Published

 on

 

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.

In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.

The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.

Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.

In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.

It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Economy

Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales fell 1.3% to $69.4B in August

Published

 on

 

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.

The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.

The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.

Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.

Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.

Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version