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Govt and policies

Regulator: Insurance industry solvent

China's insurance industry has kept its risks under control, with a sound solvency ratio, said the insurance regulator. The industry's comprehensive solvency adequacy ratio stood at 238 percent at the end of the first quarter, well above the 100 percent requirement, said the China Insurance Regulatory Commission in a statement released on Tuesday. Core solvency adequacy ratio stood at 221 percent, also above the 50 percent requirement. Risks in the industry are "controllable in general", but the authorities should not underestimate risks arising from particular areas, the statement said. China's financial regulators have recently strengthened oversight and issued harsher punishments to remedy shortcomings and promote efficiency.

Fur and fashion expo opens in style

The 2017 national fur and fashion exhibition kicked off in Beijing on Tuesday, showcasing the latest trends and developments in China's fashion market and fur industry. More than 90 domestic companies and firms from the United States, Russia, Sweden and Turkey are participating in the exhibition, and more than 16,000 visitors are expected to attend the three-day event. The exhibition seeks to create a platform for Chinese companies to work with their global partners.

Companies and markets

Yuan strengthens against dollar

The central parity rate of the renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 12 basis points to 6.8661 against the dollar on Tuesday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day. The central parity rate of the yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.

VW, JAC join forces to make electric cars

A joint venture between Volkswagen China and Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Co to make electric cars has been approved by the Chinese authorities. JAC said on Monday that the venture, with a total investment of 5 billion yuan ($726 million), will have the capacity to manufacture 100,000 electric cars annually. According to the approval, issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, models to be produced by the venture will be made and sold under a new brand and logo. The products will be sold in the domestic and international markets. JAC VW will use a production base owned by JAC in Hefei, capital of Anhui province.

Ant Financial moves into Malaysian market

Ant Financial Services Group, the affiliate financial arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, entered a partnership with 7-Eleven Malaysia on Monday by launching the Alipay cashless payment service in more than 2,100 stores in Malaysia. The payment service, facilitated by local third-party payment platform MOL Accessportal, mainly targets tourists from the Chinese mainland, the number of which exceeded 2.1 million in 2016. Malaysia is expecting to receive more than 3 million arrivals from China this year. The partnership came after Alibaba in March announced a plan to set up an e-commerce hub in Malaysia encompassing logistics, cloud computing and e-financial services to boost trade and e-commerce in the region, part of the cooperation between Alibaba and the Malaysian government in the development of a Digital Free Trade Zone in Malaysia.

Emirates upgrades Chinese services

Emirates Airline said on Monday that it will provide an all-A380 service from July 1 on its Beijing and Shanghai services, replacing the current Boeing 777-300ER operations. The United Arab Emirates airline said the move will increase the capacity of the flights, "offering Emirates passengers even more seamless A380-to-A380 connections between the two Chinese cities and over 30 international points". This upgrade strengthens Emirates' overall Chinese mainland offering, which also includes services to Guangzhou, Yinchuan and Zhengzhou, said the carrier.

Around the world

Ukraine signs trade declaration

Ukraine has adopted a joint declaration with other 11 countries of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation to strengthen trade in the region, Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Stepan Kubiv said on Monday. "The document has officially confirmed the mutual commitment of the Black Sea countries to give priority to simplifying procedures and improving terms of trade," Kubiv said. The deal was adopted during the 25th BSEC summit in Istanbul, he added. The BSEC was founded in 1992 by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Serbia.

Norway's oil tax income drops

Norway's oil industry just contributes 6.5 percent of the nation's total tax income, a significant decline from the level in 2008, when the share reached as high as 31.7 percent, the Aftenposten newspaper reported. Recent figures from Statistics Norway showed that the treasury's total income in the first four months of this year was 273 billion kroner ($32.5 billion), an increase of 1.2 percent year-on-year. However the proportion coming from oil industry has decreased. The oil tax income was 4.7 billion kroner lower than in the first four months of 2016, Aftenposten reported. According to Klaus Mohn, a professor of petroleum economics at the University of Stavanger, the statistics pointed to the diminishing role that the oil and gas industry plays in the Norwegian economy.

Russian gas exports to Turkey increase

Russian gas exports to Turkey grew by 26 percent year-on-year in the January-April period this year, reaching 10.5 billion cubic meters, TASS reported. Russia exported 24.7 billion cu m of natural gas to Turkey in 2016, the report said. Russia and Turkey have seen closer cooperation in the gas sector thanks to the implementation of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project with a capacity of 31.4 billion cu m, according to the report. The Turkish Stream project, initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014, intends to deliver Russian natural gas to Turkey and the European markets through the Black Sea.

Serbian economy looks 'more resilient'

Thanks to a lower fiscal deficit and stronger external position, Serbia is more resilient to continuing uncertainty in the international environment, according to Jorgovanka Tabakovic, governor of the National Bank of Serbia. Presenting the bank's quarterly inflation report, Tabakovic said that, over the next two years, "we expect inflation to move within the bounds of the target tolerance band of 3 percent". The report said GDP growth would rise to around 3 percent.

China Daily - Agencies