Briefs, November 17, 2012
Construction of a US$7 billion train link between Laos and China will go ahead next year after a mainland bank threw a financial lifeline to the stalled project, state media reported yesterday. The two countries had initially agreed to jointly fund the line, which will run from the Chinese border to Vientiane, but Beijing pulled out over reported concerns about profitability. State-run Exim bank has now stepped in with a loan offer for Laos, an official from the public works and transport ministry told the AFP
China Construction Bank's wealth management products account for 7 per cent of its total funding, the bank said, although concerns remain that other mainland banks are relying heavily on sales of such products to supplement their eroding deposit base. CCB, the country's second-largest bank by market value, had 824 billion yuan (HK$1 trillion) in wealth management products outstanding by the end of the third quarter, CCB said. Reuters
Beijing Capital International Airport handled 7.09 million passengers last month, up by 1.1 per cent from a year earlier. Aircraft movements increased 3 per cent year on year to 47,790 last month. Passengers carried by domestic airlines increased 1.4 per cent while international passengers rose 5.7 per cent, except for the Japanese routes, which suffered a drop due to the dispute over disputed islands. Charlotte so
Superstorm Sandy depressed US industrial output 0.4 per cent last month, the latest indication that the storm could temporarily slow the economy. Factory output, the most important component, fell 0.9 per cent. In September industrial production had risen 0.2 per cent. Excluding the storm's impact, output at the nation's factories, mines and utilities would have risen about 0.6 per cent. AP
