- According to the Information Office of the State Council, the death toll from the earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan Province rose to 32,477.

- China has received RMB6.023 bn (USD860m) in cash and goods for earthquake relief from donors at home and abroad as of 1 pm Saturday.

- Inflation in China rose 8.5 per cent year-on-year in April, compared with 8.3 per cent in March and a nearly 12-year-high of 8.7 per cent in February.

- McKinsey research suggests China's urban population will expand from 572 million in 2005 to 926 million in 2025 and to more than one billion by 2030. By 2025, China will have 219 cities with more than one million inhabitants, and 24 cities with more than five million people. Two of its cities, Shanghai and Beijing, will become 'super cities' by 2020, with populations of more than 20 million each. At current growth rates, fifteen other Chinese cities could also meet the 20 million mark.

- China's retail sales of consumer goods rose 22 per cent in April year-on-year to RMB814.2 bn, the National Bureau of Statistics announced earlier this week.

- The country's urban property prices rose 10.1 per cent in April compared to the same period in 2007, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Bureau of Statistics said this week.

- China's central bank raised the reserve requirement ratio for commercial banks by 0.5 percentage points. The reserve requirement ratio now stands at a new high of 16.5 per cent as of May 20.

- Profits for China's listed companies may grow 20 per cent this year, JPMorgan Chase estimates.

- China's accommodation and catering retail sales reached RMB112.2 bn (USD16 bn) in April, up 25.2 per cent over the same period last year and accounting for 13.8 per cent of total consumer good retail sales.

- Shenzhen Topraysolar Co. launched Wednesday the retail share offering of its USD60m stock market listing, seeking to become the first domestic specialist maker of solar power cells to list domestically.

- China's urban property prices rose 10.1 per cent in April from a year earlier, slightly lower than in March.

- China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is investing RMB2.12 bn (USD298.6m) in education this year, 67.9 per cent higher than 2007, an official said.

Last update : Monday, 19 May 2008

Keywords : Statistics, Investment, Growth, Economy, Finance

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