Exploring and keeping readers up to date with the growing economic and political ties between China and South America. Including all the good stuff: Commodities, Energy, International Finance, South-South Cooperation, Microfinance and more
BEIJING, Sept 14 (Reuters) - China's finance ministry on Monday ordered local governments to use money allotted to them under a 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package quickly and efficiently, or else risk losing out on future spending.
The central government could "delay or cut" further allocations of money to those provincial governments that do not use their existing stimulus funds appropriately or do not raise enough of their own funds to complete the projects, the ministry said in a statement on its website (www.mof.gov.cn).
The move aimed to "ensure that projects backed by the central government get started in time and that budgeting for them is accelerated, in order to achieve our strategic goal of expanding domestic demand and promoting economic growth," it said.
1) Wen Signals Unprecedented Spending Will Drive Chinese Rebound - Bloomberg
China's Premier Wen Jiabao signaled he will maintain unprecedented government spending to drive a recovery from the slowest expansion in almost a decade.
"China's economic rebound is unstable, unbalanced and not yet solid," Wen said yesterday in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Dalian, a city in northeastern China. "We cannot and will not change the direction of our policies when the conditions aren't appropriate."
2) Standard Bank Borrows $1 Billion From Chinese Banks
Standard Bank Group Ltd., Africa's largest lender, said the $1 billion loan facility it signed with four Chinese banks will be mainly used for clients developing projects on the continent.
"The money will be used mainly to support our Africa business, for clients wanting to do business in Africa and this would include Chinese clients," said Chief Executive Officer Jacko Maree, after signing the five-year facility in Macau. It will be used mainly to fund projects, he added.
3) Mongolia Fund to Manage $30 Billion Mining Jackpot
The Mongolian government will set up a sovereign wealth fund using mining royalties and tax revenue, and distribute part of the income to citizens to alleviate poverty, said Finance Minister Sangajav Bayartsogt.
The fund, to be run by professional managers from 2013, will disburse part of its annual income to every Mongolian in cash or non-cash securities to let them own stakes in the country's mining wealth, Bayartsogt said. Initial capital will be drawn from Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.'s $4 billion Oyu Tolgoi copper- gold mine project, estimated to generate $30 billion in tax revenue over 50 years, he said.
"We're drafting the idea to implement the proposal, and we're studying examples like the Alaskan Permanent Fund," Bayartsogt said in a Sept. 9 interview in the capital Ulaanbaatar, declining to specify the size of the proposed fund.
Sep 10th 2009 | SAN ANTONIO DEL TÁCHIRA From The Economist print edition Hugo Chávez stamps out regional economic integration
BUSINESS is slack at José Nelson Uribe’s tiny grocery store in San Antonio del Táchira, just a stone’s throw from Venezuela’s border with Colombia. “I’m not selling even a quarter of what I sold before,” says Mr Uribe. His woes are a result of the political conflict between his namesake, Colombia’s president, Álvaro Uribe, and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez. “Before” means before July 28th, when Mr Chávez declared a “freeze” on diplomatic ties and said he would seek alternatives to Colombian goods. This was officially a response to an agreement formalising American use of seven Colombian bases for anti-drug operations, but it also coincided with questions as to how anti-tank rocket-launchers sold by Sweden to the Venezuelan army ended up in a camp belonging to the FARC guerrillas in Colombia. It is not the first time that Mr Chávez has threatened trade sanctions, but this time he seems serious.
The impact on the border region was swift. For each country, the other is the second-biggest trading partner (after the United States in both cases). Bilateral trade totalled $7.2 billion last year, of which $6 billion consisted of Colombian exports, mainly of food, live animals, clothing and cars. Four-fifths of that trade passed along the twisting mountain road that links San Antonio with the state capital, San Cristóbal. “That represents 50,000 direct jobs and 250,000 indirect [ones],” says José Rozo, a local business leader. Many of these are in transport firms and customs agencies. “Before, the local lorry drivers were doing around 500 trips a day,” Mr Rozo says. “Now it’s down to about 80.” Industry in Táchira has been hit too, since many companies depended on imports from Colombia.
The border is not closed. But few of the 30,000 Colombians who used to cross each day to shop do so now, because Venezuela’s National Guard confiscates their goods when they recross the border, says Mr Uribe, the shopkeeper. Venezuela’s government has stopped issuing import permits, nor is it providing dollars at the official exchange rate for imports from Colombia (a dollar costs almost three times more on the parallel market)...
Click here to read the complete article from the Economist
Happy b-lated Labor Day to all my fellow US-Americans out there in cyberspace. I hope you spent it with friends and family and made it to work this morning without a hangover.
CSA (China South America) is going to begin the US work week with some rather enlightening words of wisdom from one of the wise men of the ancient world -- Confucius.
Confucius on Self-Cultivation -- "The man of virtue only practices what hes practiced."
Confucius on Humanity and Morality -- "A man who has faith in humanity always puts a lot of hard work before he is duly rewarded. Such a man may be regarded as a bearer of the virtue of humanity."
Confucius on Education -- "When you know a thing, say that you know it; when you do not know a thing, admit that you do not know it. That is wisdom."
Confucius on State Governing -- "Incorrect wording of status will lead to an irrational stream of speech; irrational stream of speech will lead to failure in handling affairs; failure in handling affairs will lead to impossibility to promote the rites and music; impossibility to promote the rites and music will lead to improperness in enacting penalty; improperness in enacting the penalty will lead to panic among the people."
Confucius on Family -- "A son should keep in mind the age of his parents, for he should feel joyful for their healthiness and at the same time fearful for their aging."
Confucius on Philosophy -- "If one fails in making friends with those who are well established in the doctrine of the mean, one should associate with those are are ambitious and those who adhere to moral principles. Those who are ambitious tend to be enterprising and those are adhere to moral principles seldom do evil deeds."
BEIJING, Sept 14 (Reuters) - China's finance ministry on Monday ordered local governments to use money allotted to them under a 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package quickly and efficiently, or else risk losing out on future spending.
