Entertainment Industry Boom

The total revenue of China's radio, TV and film industry increased 18 percent to 110 billion yuan in 2006, said a report released by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television on June 19.

The number of China-made movies reached 330 in 2006, up 27 percent over the previous year. And China produced 82,300 minutes of cartoons, nearly double the 2005 volume, said the report.

By the end of 2006, radio had covered 95 percent of the Chinese population, and TV, 96 percent.

The report said the year 2006 saw many innovations in China's radio, TV and film industry. In 2006 China developed its own digital TV standards, which will be implemented from August this year.

Free Flow of Insurance Money

Chinese authorities will throw open the door for insurers to invest overseas. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission is planning to launch a ruling within a month or two on insurers' overseas investment under the qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII) scheme, said Sun Jianyong, head of the commission's insurance fund management.

The ruling will allow insurers to convert their own assets into foreign currency and invest in mature markets, including Hong Kong, the United States and Britain.

Under a draft ruling issued for consultation in December, insurers can invest up to 15 percent of their total assets in the previous year into overseas markets, which is 296 billion yuan according to the figure at the end of 2006.

Economic Fever

China's fixed assets investment in urban areas surged 25.9 percent year on year to 3,205 billion yuan between January and May, the National Bureau of Statistics announced on June 15.

The rate was 0.4 percentage points higher than the 25.5-percent growth in the first four months.

The acceleration in fixed assets investment growth came despite the cooling measures introduced by China's central bank this year.

In its latest attempt, the People's Bank of China raised the one-year deposit rate by 0.27 of a percentage point to 3.06 percent and the loan interest rate by 0.18 of a percentage point to 6.57 percent on May 19.

Investment in the real estate sector totaled 721 billion yuan in the first five months, up 27.5 percent on the same period last year, the bureau said.

A Lucrative Expo

An estimated 70 million visitors coming to World Expo 2010, to be held in Shanghai, will bring 145 billion yuan with them to spend in Shanghai during the event.

To put this figure into perspective, it equals nearly half of the city's total retail sales in 2006, according to a survey by the Shanghai Economic Commission and the Shanghai Commercial Economic Research Institute.

It is estimated that domestic tourists, who will make up 95 percent of the total number of visitors, will spend 1,850 yuan per person, or 123.02 billion yuan in all, during the six-month Expo period. Foreign visitors are expected to spend 6,361 yuan per person or 22.26 billion yuan in total.

Good Year for Social Security Fund

China's Social Security Fund saw its assets rise in value by 34 percent last year, from 212 billion yuan to 283 billion yuan on the back of strong investment gains, fund managers said in their annual report published recently.

The fund is governed by a national council. Its assets mainly come from cash injections from government and capital and equity assets acquired from offloading state-owned shares.

Fund managers, while remaining cautious, kept their eye on the stock markets last year. The fund racked up investment gains of 62 billion yuan in 2006, at a yield of 29 percent. The fund's debt totaled 5.8 billion yuan at the end of 2006, down 65 percent on the previous year.