Economic Observer News- China business, politics, law, and social issues

FINANCE: State-owned Enterprises Register Almost Two Trillion Yuan of Profits in 2010; China's state-owned enterprises have gained profits of 1.98 trillion yuan in 2010, up 37.9% on the level of 2009, according to figures released yesterday by the Ministry of Finance. However, only 44 billion yuan, roughly 5% of the profits, were passed on as dividends to the Ministry of Finance.; People's Daily | 2011-02-21

BANKING: Central Bank to Raise Reserve Ratio by 50 Basis Points on Feb 24; The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, posted a notice to its official website at about 6pm this evening announcing that it had decided to increase the reserve ratio of deposit-taking financial institutions by 0.5 percentage points, as of February 24, 2011. This is the second time this year that the bank has officially raised the ratio, and follows six adjustments to the ratio in ...; People's Bank of China | 2011-02-18

ENVIRONMENT: Ministry of Environmental Protection Raises Environmental Requirements on Listed...; The Ministry of Environmental Protection issued a notice yesterday afternoon that requires provincial-level environmental agencies to be more rigorous in their inspection of the environmental record of listed companies. The new policy will come in to effect in six months. According to the notice, provincial-level environmental agencies have been told not to accept any applications to approve the e...; China Securities Journal | 2011-02-18

HOT MONEY: SAFE: Data Doesn't Back Argument that Hot Money Dominates A-share Market; The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has released a notice saying that, although there is a small amount of hot money flowing into China, it is not the dominant source of capital flowing into the country's stock markets. According to SAFE, in 2010, 35.5 billion US dollars of hot money entered China, accounting for 7.6% of the country’s foreign exchange reserves.; Caijing | 2011-02-18

: Ministry of Agriculture Claims No Leather Protein in Milk Products; In response to recent media reports that some domestic milk products may have been contaminated with leather protein, an unnamed official from the Ministry of Agriculture's news office yesterday told reporters that the ministry had conducted a thorough inspections of fresh milk products and that no traces of either leather protein or melamine had been detected. The official went on to say the curr...; The Beijing Times | 2011-02-18

INSURANCE: Medical Insurance Subsidy Raised; China's State Council announced yesterday that it will raise the subsidies provided to residents covered by either of the country's two medical insurance programs - the Urban Medical Insurance System and the New Rural Cooperative Medical System - from 120 yuan to 200 yuan per person each year. The central government also pledged to further promote reform of public hospitals and ensure medical reso...; Beijing Times | 2011-02-18

Foreign Exchange: SAFE to Launch RMB Foreign Exchange Trade Options; The State Administration of Foreign Exchange will launch RMB foreign-exchange trade options starting April 1st of this year. The measure is aimed at providing domestic banks and businesses with tools to combat further fluctuations in the RMB exchange rate.; Securities Daily | 2011-02-17