Nation needs more rate rises this year
THE country needed to raise interest rates at least once more this year to ensure that the red-hot property market could be effectively cooled, a government researcher told Reuters over the weekend.
Wang Xiaoguang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Governance, an advisory body to the Central Government, said Tuesday s increase of 25 basis points was not drastic enough to produce the government s desired effect. This is only a beginning and there is a lot of scope to expect more interest rate rises, he told Reuters Insider television.
Interest rate increases likely in 2011
CHINA S central bank will likely hold off from adding to last week s interest-rate increase until 2011, when it will raise borrowing costs at least twice to tame inflation, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
The People s Bank of China will leave the benchmark one-year lending rate at 5.56 percent through December, according to 12 of 17 forecasts made over the weekend in a Bloomberg News survey. Eight of 12 respondents said the rate, used to set a minimum cost for loans in the world s fastest-growing major economy, would jump at least half a percentage point by the end of 2011.
S. Korea to cut China rare earth dependency
SOUTH KOREA plans to reduce its dependency on Chinese supplies of rare earth after cutting overall imports of the materials used in hybrid cars and wind turbines by almost two-thirds since 2005.
The government expects China to maintain an export cap on rare earth and will increase stockpiles to meet higher demand, said Kim Sang Woo, a deputy director at the Mineral Resources Division of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.
China becomes Volvo s 3rd largest market
CHINA has become the third largest market for Volvo, which Chinese carmaker Geely recently acquired, domestic media reported Saturday. Alexander Klose, head of Volvo Cars China, made the comments at a trade show in the northern city of Tianjin, according to the Xinhua news agency.
