Business news for Mon, 17 Dec 2007 & with word country. 31 news.

CHINA will encourage the exploration and production of unconventional energy sources, such as oil shale, oil sands and natural gas hydrate, according to the 2007 edition of the guidelines for industrial restructuring. Sources with the National Development and Reform Commission said yesterday that development of these unconventional reserves would be supported by loans and tax breaks in the next few years. Last Friday, the NDRC - the country's top economic planning agency - began soliciting public opinion on the 2007 edition of the guidelines. A recent report by the Boston Consulting Group said China has expressed willingness to cooperate with multinational energy companies to develop unconventional reserves to increase supplies. China hopes to improve energy security by developing unconventional resources. The report said China's unconventional reserves were 16 times as large as conventional reserves. For instance, deposits of oil shale were estimated at two trillion tons in

ORLANDO, Fla. - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Monday that there was no "silver bullet" to solve the country's credit market problems, but expressed optimism in several initiatives aimed at limiting mortgage foreclosures and restoring market stability.

PETROCHINA Co, the nation's biggest oil company, will start expanding an ethylene plant in northeast China's Daqing at the end of this month to tap rising chemical demand. The annual capacity of the plant will be doubled to 1.2 million metric tons, the largest in the country, parent China National Petroleum Corp said in its online newsletter China Oil News yesterday. It didn't give an investment figure or the completion date for the project. China plans to more than triple the annual capacity of ethylene to 18.13 million tons by 2010, Bloomberg News reported. PetroChina will raise its ethylene capacity to seven million tons a year by 2010 from 2.63 million tons last year, Liu Jie, deputy chief economic adviser at the firm's chemicals and market unit, said on May 24.

HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank by value, aims to start three new funds on the Chinese mainland next year as it taps into the country's rising demand for investment products. "We will see a strong growth and I would be surprised if we didn't see at least US$2 billion of new funds flowing in," Rudolf Apenbrink, chief executive officer of HSBC Investments Hong Kong Ltd, said in an interview with Bloomberg News. HSBC already manages three funds worth US$1.5 billion on the mainland under the joint venture HSBC Jintrust Fund Management Co. It expects to receive regulatory approval for its fourth fund soon and will apply for the qualified domestic institutional investment, or QDII, quota in May, Apenbrink said. Financial companies, including banks, fund managers and insurers, invest abroad using QDII quotas. To cope with managing more funds, HSBC Jintrust plans to recruit as many as 20 new employees next year, Apenbrink said. The company has about 100 employees.

CONSUMER prices in China are expected to fall significantly next year while consumption may replace export and investment to become a major driver of the country's economy, Deutsche Bank said. In a report released yesterday, the bank maintains the forecast of a modest slowing in the nation's gross domestic product to 10.4 percent in 2008 from 11.5 percent this year, according to its December issue of Asia Economics Monthly. "We expect CPI (consumer price index) inflation to fall visibly to an average of 3.8 percent next year, down from the 6.5 percent year on year in October and an average 4.6 percent in 2007." The German bank made its projection based on several trends highlighted recently by the National Development and Reform Commission: - Inflation has been mainly driven by food items and is structural in nature, although international and cost factors also played a role. - This year's domestic wheat and rice output has grown and will be sufficient to meet

THE Chinese mainland will let its commercial banks invest in UK stocks and funds in the first expansion of the country's international investment program outside Hong Kong. The nation reached an agreement with the UK financial regulator for investments by the banks under the qualified domestic institutional investor, or QDII, program, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said on its Website yesterday. The government is loosening restrictions on overseas investment to counter inflows from a record trade surplus that have driven up local stock and property prices, Bloomberg News said. The mainland will "soon" come to a similar agreement with the United States authorities, the regulator said. "Expanding the number of markets that QDII funds can invest in helps raise banks' investment and risk management capacities, and also helps investors diversify their risk," the statement said, without providing further details. The release didn't say when QDII funds

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Monday that there was no "silver bullet" to solve the country's credit market problems, but expressed optimism in several initiatives aimed at limiting mortgage foreclosures and restoring market stability.

CHINA International Capital Corp, the country's first joint-venture investment bank, has acquired a US$5 billion quota under the qualified domestic institutional investor scheme, a senior foreign exchange management official said. Sun Lujun, deputy head of the capital project department under the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said by early December, the forex market regulator had verified a total of US$23 billion as QDII quotas for China Southern Fund, Huaxia Fund, Harvest Fund and China International Fund. Sun said that through the end of October, 16 QDIIs had put on the market 154 QDII products. Sun added that US$28.6 billion were actually remitted abroad for QDII operations by the end of the month. The total indicates that capital flows accelerated sharply over the past few months as only US$4 billion or so were remitted between April 2006 and March 2007. In May, QDII banks were approved to invest in Hong Kong stocks.

HONDA Motor Co, Japan's second-largest car maker, increased sales in China 36 percent last month as the Civic and Accord cars won more buyers. Honda sold 46,226 cars in November in China, the company said yesterday. In the first 11 months, sales climbed 32 percent to 378,602. The auto maker is boosting sales in China this year as the Accord sedan is ranked the tenth best-selling model in the country.

Real estate sales in the country's major markets have set a new annual record, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

Chinese companies are increasingly using the country's influence and cash reserves to win lucrative supply contracts, often edging out local and western competitors

South American trade bloc Mercosur yesterday signed a free-trade pact with Israel, its first with a country outside Latin America. The deal followed two years of talks. ...

This Baltic country is getting a reputation for being security savvy. Just ask the hackers

The U.S. trade deficit declined during the third quarter to the lowest level in two years, raising hopes that the country's trade troubles could be easing.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. trade deficit declined during the third quarter to the lowest level in two years, raising hopes that the country's trade troubles could be easing.

This is the first free trade agreement between Mercosur, which includes Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, and a country outside of Latin America.

US government figures show that the country's balance of payments deficit narrowed in the third quarter.

The U.S. trade deficit declined during the third quarter to the lowest level in two years, raising hopes that the country's trade troubles could be easing.

AP - The U.S. trade deficit declined during the third quarter to the lowest level in two years, raising hopes that the country's trade troubles could be easing.

The U.S. trade deficit declined during the third quarter to the lowest level in two years, raising hopes that the country's trade troubles could be easing.