Top news of the week:

• The loans from the Export-Import Bank of China increased by nearly 30%

  October 31, 2022

  Up to the end of September, the Export-Import Bank of China has the balance of foreign trade loans stood at 2.83 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.07%. From January to September, a total of 1.5 trillion yuan of foreign trade loans were invested, a year-on-year increase of 29.83%.

• SAFE: China’s foreign-related economic activities have remained active

  November 1, 2022

  China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) release a set of statistics, revealing that in September 2022, the amount of foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks was USD 221.4 billion and USD 213.2 billion, respectively. The number of cross-border receipts and payments by non-banking sectors was USD 545.3 billion and USD 557.4 billion, respectively. From January to September 2022, the accumulative amount of foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks was USD 2005.8 billion and USD 1887.3 billion, respectively. The accumulative number of cross-border receipts and payments by non-banking sectors was USD 4781.5 billion and USD 4710.2 billion, respectively. According to the SAFE, China’s foreign-related economic activities have remained active and the cross-border capital flows have been generally stable and orderly.

• China unveils 5-year plan to boost meta universe

  November 2, 2022

  China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with four other Chinese government agencies, issued a five-year action plan from 2022 to 2026, aiming to further integrate virtual reality with industrial applications. The plan hopes to achieve a total industrial scale exceeding 350 billion yuan (USD 48.1 billion) and the sales of VR terminal devices are expected to exceed 25 million units by 2026. According to the action plan, the technology of VR, AR and mixed reality, 5G, Digital Twin will empower various sectors including industrial production, tourism, education, and business. Experts believe the plan, although it did not mention the term “meta universe”, is widely seen as China’s first high-level document guiding the development of meta universe.

• China will set up 29 more import promotion demonstration zones

  November 3, 2022

  Ministry of Commerce announced that China will establish 29 more demonstration zones to promote imports. Eight authorities including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the People’s Bank of China decided to set up these import promotion demonstration zones in regions including Beijing, Shanxi and Xinjiang.

• Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz seeks closer ties with China

  November 4, 2022

  On the morning of 4 November, President Xi Jinping met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on his official visit to China. Xi noted that Chancellor Scholz is the first European leader to visit China after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and that it is also his first visit to China as the Federal Chancellor. The visit will further enhance the mutual understanding and trust between the two sides and deepen practical cooperation in various fields. Chancellor Scholz expressed that Germany stands ready for closer trade and economic cooperation with China and supports more mutual investment between Chinese and German businesses. On the afternoon of the day, Premier Li Keqiang held talks with Chancellor Scholz, emphasizing deepening China-Germany cooperation in the process of opening-up to better expand mutual benefit and win-win results. 12 CEOs of German’s top companies came with Chancellor Scholz’s delegation, namely Volkswagen, BMW, Deutsche Bank, Siemens, BASF, Geo Clima Design, Adidas, Georg Hipp, Wacker Chemie, Merck, Bayer, and BioNTech. Worth mentioning is that pharmacy and biotech takes one fourth of the company representatives in the delegation.