China's outbound portfolio investment up by June
China's overseas portfolio investment had continued its rising streak by June with the United States as the biggest destination, official data said Monday. China made about $420.6 billion of portfolio investments, including investments in equities and bonds, in overseas markets by the end of June, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said in an online statement.
The reading was nearly 35 percent higher than that of a year ago. In breakdown, China made $255.1 billion of equity investments and $165.5 billion of bond investments.
Of all, nearly a third was invested in the United States, followed by Hong Kong with $122.3 billion and the Cayman Islands with $26 billion.
China started to publish countryspecific figures on overseas portfolio investment in January 2016 after the country joined the Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey conducted by the International Monetary Fund at the end of 2015.
Meanwhile, China's service trade deficit continued to decline in October, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said Monday.
The deficit stood at 117.5 billion yuan (about $17.84 billion) last month, down from 146 billion yuan in September, SAFE said. Income from trade in services was 115.5 billion yuan, while expenditure totaled 233 billion yuan. Trade in services refers to the sale and delivery of intangible products such as transport, tourism, telecommunications, construction, advertising, computing and accounting.
Tourism is a major source of service trade deficit. The tourism deficit came in at 101.3 billion yuan in October, down from 114 billion yuan a month ago. China regularly registers a deficit in service trade due to huge domestic demand. The government has channeled more energy into improving the service sector, including measures to gradually open up the finance, educa- tion, culture and medical industries.
Moreover, China, CEEC cooperation termed a model to advance Belt and Road Initiative. The Smederevo Steel Mill, a plant of Serbian national pride, finally started to make profit by the end of 2016 after a seven-year loss. It happened only eight months after Chinese HeSteel Group poured investment therein, vowing to make it one of the most competitive in Europe.
It comes as one example in a larger picture where China and 16 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) have quickened their economic exchange under the "16+1" cooperation format in realizing goals of the Belt and Road Initiative that is intended to improve infrastructure and trade between China and Europe and Africa.
Also in Serbia, the first phrase of Expressway E763, built by a Chinese company, is expected to complete by the end of the year. Another upbeat story like the one in Serbia was also told in Poland when China's Liugong Group, five years after acquiring the machinery unit of Poland's Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW), remade it into a profitable joint venture that has paid taxes and dues for about $68 million during past four years while creating jobs. China's Hongbo Group invested $100 million to build a LED lamp factory in that country.
In the Czech Republic, you may have to make an appointment until half a year later in a traditional Chinese medicine hospital that is keenly sought after among locals. According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, in 2016, total trade between China and the 16 CEEC increased by 9.5 percent, marking a remarkable boost while China's trade with Europe and the world as a whole dipped in the same period. It makes the "16+1" cooperation a model for the Belt and Road Initiative and China-Europe ties.
Proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa on and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes.