Numbers of the Week

30.5%

Taxes collected in the first half of this year by the State Administration of Taxation reached 3.2553 trillion yuan ($477 billion), surging 30.5 percent from the year-earlier period.

57.7 trillion yuan

By the end of June, the overall renminbi and foreign exchange assets of domestic banks had reached 57.7 trillion yuan ($8.45 trillion), up 19 percent from the same period a year earlier.

TO THE POINT: The Chinese central bank reported that financial performance in the first half of this year was generally stable. But mutual funds had heavy losses because of the bearish stock market. Profits at state-owned companies were down 10.3 percent year on year, largely on account of losses in the petrochemical and power industries. China's first defeat in a WTO trade dispute means the country will see an increase in the demand for imported cars. The mainland food, beverage and hotel industry saw fast development in the first half and was expected to continue the trend during the rest of the year. By LIU YUNYUN

Financial Performance in H1, 2008

Deposits

Renminbi deposits at financial institutions saw large increases. At the end of June, the outstanding renminbi and foreign currency deposits at financial institutions totaled 45.02 trillion yuan ($6.6 trillion) with a year-on-year growth of 17.84 percent.

Outstanding renminbi deposits increased 18.85 percent year on year to 43.9 trillion yuan ($6.43 trillion). By sectors, household deposits grew by 2.207 trillion yuan ($323 billion), deposits of non-financial companies increased by 1.6256 trillion yuan ($238 billion), and fiscal deposits rose by 1.0234 trillion yuan ($150 billion).

At the end of June, the outstanding foreign currency deposits at financial institutions declined 1.75 percent year on year to $163.8 billion.

Loans

At the end of the first six months, outstanding renminbi and foreign currency loans at financial institutions increased 15.17 percent year on year to 30.51 trillion yuan ($4.48 trillion). Outstanding renminbi loans grew 14.12 percent year on year to 28.62 trillion yuan ($4.2 trillion), down 1.98 trillion yuan ($290 billion) from the end of last year and 0.74 percentage points down from the end of last month.