On April 4th, the Shijiazhuang branch of the People’s Bank of China published a report titled “Questionnaire and Financial Data Analysis of 200 Key Enterprises of Hebei Province in the First Quarter of 2010,” which indicates that the confidence index of entrepreneur is recovering stably and shows a substantial increase in short-term loans.

Prosperity of Hebei enterprises approaches pre-crisis level

The questionnaire shows that over the past year, China's economy quickly reversed its decline and achieved a growth figure of 8%, depending on strong domestic demands. The GNP of Hebei province achieved 10% growth and the prosperity index of enterprises reached 32.0%, close to the pre-crisis level of the second quarter of 2008.

Macro economy becomes "normal" with a proportion of 80.7%

The entrepreneur confidence index reached 83.3 percent, 3.5 percent higher than last quarter with a recovery of 5 consecutive quarters. The Economic Situation DI index is -11.1 percent, 3.7 percent quarter on quarter. Entrepreneurs believe that the current macro-economic ratio becomes normal with an increase by 2.2 percentage points quarter-on-quarter, reaching 80.7 percent; the "colder" ratio reaches 15.2 percent, decreasing by 3.0 percent from the prior quarter.

The entrepreneur's satisfaction with bank credit is recovering. Among those enterprises surveyed, 76.5% are satisfied with the current easy monetary policy. They believe that heavy industry and upstream industry will recover first with stimulation of national economic policies. However, the sustainable development capacity is not strong and a structural adjustment is expected.

Short-term and long-term borrowings increase substantially

According to the financial data analysis, at the end of February, the proportion of money funds was 25.6 percent, falling 0.8 percent year on year; current assets turnover was 1.6 times, down 0.1 percent year on year; accounts receivable turnover frequency of 12.4 times, down 2.3 percent year on year. The balance of short-term borrowings was 118.07 billion yuan, up by 13.3%; long-term borrowing balance of 89.49 billion yuan, up by 58.8 percentage; total balance of long-term liabilities was 124.09 billion yuan, up by 49.5 percent.