Economy

US commerce secretary to visit China next week for talks

Published

1 year ago

August 23, 2023

US commerce secretary to visit China next week for talks

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo testifies during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing titled “A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request: Investing in U.S. Security and Competitiveness, and the Path Ahead for the

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will travel to China next week for meetings with senior Chinese government officials and U.S. business leaders, the latest in a recent series of high-level visits, the department said on Tuesday.

Last month, Raimondo vowed to go forward with the visit despite the reported Chinese hacking of her department’s emails.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Raimondo will carry a message that the U.S. is not seeking to decouple from China, but will protect its national security. He added she will reinforce the U.S. is focused on sustaining an economic relationship with China.

On Tuesday, China welcomed the department’s decision to lift export control restrictions on 27 Chinese entities, saying it is conducive to normal trade between Chinese and U.S. firms.

The U.S. Department of Commerce on Monday removed 27 Chinese companies from its “Unverified List.” Companies are added if the U.S. cannot complete on-site visits to determine if they can be trusted to receive sensitive U.S. technology exports. Companies on the list cannot use license exceptions for exports.

Commerce said the removal “demonstrates the concrete benefit companies receive when they or a host government cooperates” to complete checks.

Raimondo “looks forward to constructive discussions,” during the visit to Beijing and Shanghai from Aug. 27-30, the department said in a statement.

The talks would cover issues related to the U.S.- China commercial relationship, challenges faced by U.S. businesses, and areas for potential cooperation, it added.

Last week, China said it welcomed Raimondo’s expected visit.

Raimondo said recently that she wanted to raise with China “really serious concerns about the way they are targeting U.S. tech companies, about the way they don’t respect intellectual property but also try to find lanes of commerce.”

Her trip follows a four-day visit last month by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who held more than 10 hours of meetings with senior officials in Beijing.

The U.S. and China agreed this month to approve twice the number of passenger flights now permitted by air carriers between the two countries, in a rare sign of co-operation between the world’s largest two economies.

Raimondo was among a group of senior U.S. officials whose emails were hacked this year by a group Microsoft (NASDAQ:) said was based in China, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Earlier, China’s embassy in Washington said that identifying the source of cyber attacks was complex and warned against groundless speculations and accusations.

In July, Raimondo said the Biden administration was seeking to carefully target U.S. controls on exports to China.

Raimondo met Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in May, discussing trade, investment and export policies in what was until then the first U.S.-China cabinet-level exchange in months, after a string of trade and national security irritants derailed plans for re-engagement.

In April, Raimondo warned Chinese cloud companies could pose threats. Some Republican senators want her to add such companies to the entity list that imposes U.S. export controls on foreign companies.

Economy

Russian central bank says it needs months to make sure CPI falling before rate cuts -RBC

Published

12 months ago

December 26, 2023

Russian central bank says it needs months to make sure CPI falling before rate cuts -RBC

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s central bank will need two to three months to make sure that inflation is steadily declining before taking any decision on interest rate cuts, the bank’s governor Elvira Nabiullina told RBC media on Sunday.

The central bank raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 16% earlier in December, hiking for the fifth consecutive meeting in response to stubborn inflation, and suggested that its tightening cycle was nearly over.

Nabiullina said it was not yet clear when exactly the regulator would start cutting rates, however.

“We really need to make sure that inflation is steadily decreasing, that these are not one-off factors that can affect the rate of price growth in a particular month,” she said.

Nabiullina said the bank was taking into account a wide range of indicators but primarily those that “characterize the stability of inflation”.

“This will take two or three months or more – it depends on how much the wide range of indicators that characterize sustainable inflation declines,” she said.

The bank will next convene to set its benchmark rate on Feb. 16.

The governor also said the bank should have started monetary policy tightening earlier than in July, when it embarked on the rate-hiking cycle.

Economy

China identifies second set of projects in $140 billion spending plan

Published

12 months ago

December 25, 2023

China identifies second set of projects in $140 billion spending plan

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Workers walk past an under-construction area with completed office towers in the background, in Shenzhen’s Qianhai new district, Guangdong province, China August 25, 2023. REUTERS/David Kirton/File Photo

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s top planning body said on Saturday it had identified a second batch of public investment projects, including flood control and disaster relief programmes, under a bond issuance and investment plan announced in October to boost the economy.

With the latest tranche, China has now earmarked more than 800 billion yuan of its 1 trillion yuan ($140 billion) in additional government bond issuance in the fourth quarter, as it focuses on fiscal steps to shore up the flagging economy.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement on Saturday it had identified 9,600 projects with planned investment of more than 560 billion yuan.

China’s economy, the world’s second largest, is struggling to regain its footing post-COVID-19 as policymakers grapple with tepid consumer demand, weak exports, falling foreign investment and a deepening real estate crisis.

The 1 trillion yuan in additional bond issuance will widen China’s 2023 budget deficit ratio to around 3.8 percent from 3 percent, the state-run Xinhua news agency has said.

“Construction of the projects will improve China’s flood control system, emergency response mechanism and disaster relief capabilities, and better protect people’s lives and property, so it is very significant,” the NDRC said.

The agency said it will coordinate with other government bodies to make sure that funds are allocated speedily for investment and that high standards of quality are maintained in project construction.

($1 = 7.1315 renminbi)

Economy

Russian central bank says it needs months to make sure CPI falling before rate cuts -RBC

Published

12 months ago

December 25, 2023

Nabiullina said it was not yet clear when exactly the regulator would start cutting rates, however.

“We really need to make sure that inflation is steadily decreasing, that these are not one-off factors that can affect the rate of price growth in a particular month,” she said.

Nabiullina said the bank was taking into account a wide range of indicators but primarily those that “characterize the stability of inflation”.

“This will take two or three months or more – it depends on how much the wide range of indicators that characterize sustainable inflation declines,” she said.

The bank will next convene to set its benchmark rate on Feb. 16.

The governor also said the bank should have started monetary policy tightening earlier than in July, when it embarked on the rate-hiking cycle.