ASIA: China will launch a series of promotional activities, including a new consumer goods expo in southern Hainan province, in May to boost spending as the Chinese retail sector recovers from COVID-19-induced consumer caution. Expanding domestic consumption is a priority in China’s “dual circulation” economic strategy, first highlighted by President Xi Jinping last year in […]

ASIA: India’s biggest oil refiner, Indian Oil Corp Ltd’s refineries are operating at about 95% of their capacity, down from 100% at the same time last month, Reuters reported. Coronavirus cases have surged in India, leading to curbs on movement across the country, a move analyst say could hit fuel demand in the world’s third-largest […]

ASIA: India has raised concerns over United States putting it on a monitoring list of currency manipulators. Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department put India along with 10 other economies including Singapore, Thailand and Mexico on the “Monitoring List” that it said required close attention to their currency practices. India’s trade ministry official said India’s […]

ASIA: China’s economic indicators for the first quarter of 2021 have been released. At an annualized rate, the economy grew 18.3% from January through to April, facilitating a complete economic recovery as the world deals with the disruption of COVID-19, and consumption reasserts itself, registering the highest tally since 1993. In line with the GDP […]

ASIA: China on Tuesday kept the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) unchanged at 3.85% and five-year LPR at 4.65%. That was in line with predictions from a majority of traders and analysts in a Reuters poll, who had expected no change to either the one-year or five-year LPR. India will waive its 10% customs duty […]

ASIA: Cai Fang, a member of China’s central bank’s monetary policy committee, said China’s population is set to peak in just four years and a significant downturn in consumer demand will mark the milestone. Cai, who joined the central bank’s advisory body last month after retiring from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the […]

ASIA: China just posted its strongest quarterly growth on record as the world’s second largest economy continued its robust recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. GDP growth of 18.3% year-on-year in the first quarter was the strongest since China began keeping records in 1992, and was driven by a surge in retail sales, industrial production and […]

ASIA: China’s economy likely grew at record pace of 19% in the first quarter, rebounding from a pandemic slump early last year as demand recovered at home and abroad and as policy support for ailing smaller firms continued, a Reuters poll showed. Reuters poll suggests that the world’s second-largest economy has continued to gain momentum, […]

ASIA: Investors are putting billions of dollars more into U.S. stock funds than Chinese ones, according to data from fund research firm EPFR Global. U.S. and China stock funds are the two regions that have attracted the most inflows from international investors over the past two quarters, Cameron Brandt, director of research at EPFR said. […]

ASIA: China’s exports rose sharply in March while imports growth surged to the highest in four years in yet another boost to the nation’s economic recovery, signaling improving global demand amid progress in worldwide COVID-19 vaccination. The data suggests the world’s second-largest economy will continue to gather momentum as it emerges from the COVID-19-led slump […]