Policies(2)|General Policies

　　 China vows to speed up tax reform in 2012 　　China will accelerate tax cuts and reforms for selected industries this year to boost domestic consumption, Finance Minister Xie Xuren said in remarks published on June 7.
　　The pledge is the latest made by China’s policymakers to cushion a slowdown in growth set to extend for a sixth straight quarter and leave the world’s second biggest economy on course for its weakest full year of expansion since 1999.
　　“In 2012 we will push forward tax reforms and try to make significant progress in some key sectors,” Xie said, according to a statement published on the ministry’s website, summarizing a speech made in late April.
　　“We will further improve the policy of cutting taxes for some sectors to spur domestic demand,” he added.
　　So far, Beijing has taken several steps overhaul its tax regime, such as launching a pilot program to replace business tax with value-added tax, cutting import duties on some consumer goods and providing tax breaks for smaller firms.
　　Local media have reported that China may unveil a plan to expand its valueadded tax beyond Shanghai as soon as in early June, with 10 cities and provinces on a waiting list.
　　Xie also pledged to make fiscal policy play a bigger role in adjusting China’s economic structure, citing energy price reform and setting up a nationwide social security network.
　　He also called for the establishment of a risk-alert and prevention system to enhance supervision of local government debt, without further elaboration.
　　 China to open the market further
　　China is mulling steps for overseas firms to list in the country and foreign institutions to invest yuan they hold in domestic markets, Reuters reported, citing a government document.
　　The government will draft rules for overseas firms to float shares in China and make necessary preparations for the opening, according to the documents signed by eight government departments, including the top planner, the National Development and Reform Commission.
　　
　　China has been deliberating on the launch of an international board in the Shanghai Stock Exchange to encourage foreign listings. It was about to kick off the new board in the second half of last year but the move was delayed by the erupting euro zone debt crisis.
　　This year, China has conducted a slew of market reforms, including improving initial public offering rules to clamp down on excessive speculation in newcomers and a plan to launch a high-yield bond market for small companies to raise funds.
　　It has also doubled the yuan’s trading band against the dollar and plans to launch a slew of derivatives, such as government bond futures, in a bid to offer corporations more hedging tools.
　　“Currently and in a coming period of time, the global economic structure will be faced with deep adjustments,” said the document, also signed by the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, and the Ministry of Finance. “We must stick to reforms and innovations.”
　　The government would also consider letting foreign organizations issue bonds, mutual funds, while expanding the channels for domestic investors to invest in overseas securities, the document said.
　　China has so far permitted a handful of international organizations to sell bonds in the country, while Chinese citizens are allowed to trade foreign securities via the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors (QDII) in a limited quota system.
　　International financial organizations, overseas currency authorities and foreign companies will be allowed to invest yuan they hold in China’s financial markets.
　　Chinese institutions will also be encouraged to do more financial and markets-related business outside China, the document said without giving a timetable for the measures.
　　China has been trying to internationalize its currency over the past three years, conducting yuan-foreign currency swaps with a number of countries, and permitting Chinese firms to settle their trade with foreign counterparts in the yuan.
　　The government has launched a Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII), or RQFII scheme, to permit foreign firms to invest their yuan in China in a quota system.
　　“M&A reviews could speed up”
　　Ministry official says proposed move would‘fast-track’ transactions. China might streamline anti-monopoly reviews for mergers and acquisitions this year to facilitate transactions, a senior official was quoted as saying by China Daily.
　　The Ministry of Commerce plans to introduce simplified methods of assessing concentration by classifying M&A applications according to the market shares companies held before formal investigations commenced, Shang Ming, director of the ministry’s anti-monopoly bureau, said in an address at Peking University on June 6.
　　Shang said these “fast-track” procedures, still under discussion, will only apply to cases with simple relevant markets and small market shares.
　　
　　“VC, PE sector faces cold winter in China”
　　The venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) investment industry is experiencing a cold winter in China, experts said on June 6, largely as a result of the slowing down of the economy and the government’s tightened supervision of the sector.
　　There are too many VC/PE capital firms competing for too few quality projects, Lu Dongcheng, partner of VC firm Jiangtong Capital, told a VC/PE forum in Beijing.
　　“China is facing some difficulties in economic development now. This is reflected in investment circles as there are fewer quality projects to invest in, and sources of investment capital are drying up,” Wang Jian, manager of Shanghaibased venture capital firm Gobi Partners, told the Global Times.
　　 Figures
　　 13.8%
　　China’s retail sales grew 13.8 percent year on year to 1.67 trillion yuan($265.08billion) in May, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on June 9.
　　 9.6%
　　China’s industrial value-added output grew 9.6 percent year on year in May after adjusted by inflation, the National Bureau of Statistics said on June 9.
　　 20.1%
　　 China’s fixed-asset investment rose 20.1 percent year on year to 10.89 trillion yuan ($1.73 trillion) in the first five months of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) said on June 9.
　　 1.4%
　　China’s Producer Price Index (PPI), a main gauge of inflation at the wholesale level, fell 1.4 percent in May from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) said on June 9.
　　 3.0%
　　China’s consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, slowed to 3.0 percent year-on-year in May, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on June 9.
　　$2t
　　China’s outbound foreign direct investment could hit the $2-trillion mark by 2020, with the private sector playing an important role, according to a report by US-based research firm Rhodium Group.
　　 8%
　　China’s economic growth will likely moderate to around 8 percent this year amid downward risks caused by the ongoing crisis in Europe, an official from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on June 8.
　　 764.2m
　　A total of 764.2 million people were employed in China as of the end of 2011, including 359.14 million who worked in urban areas, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said on June 4.