介绍:
China new bank loans rise to 1.05 trillion yuan
The latest data shows banks here in China have stepped up their lending through this past month.
This country's financial institutions have issued more than 1-trillion yuan in new yuan loans in March.
That's up from the 644.5 billion yuan issued in February.
Corporate bonds issued through March have totaled nearly 252-billion yuan.
Total social financing, viewed as a measure of credit in the economy, has come in more than 2-trillion yuan through March.
This is up considerably from the 939-billion calculated through February.
Despite robust credit growth, there has been a lower-than-expected money-supply figure calculated in March.
At the end of March, the broad M2 measure of the money supply was up 12-percent from a year earlier.
This is short of the median 13-percent increase forecast by the economists.
February's M2 increase came in at 13.3-percent.
Nestlé sales drop 5.1%, miss expectations
Nestlé is reporting a 5.1-percent drop in first quarter sales.
The company is blaming the slowdown on weak consumer confidence in Europe and a harsh winter in North America.
The slowdown has pushed sales growth to 4.2-percent, which has come in below the company's long-term target of between 5 and 6-percent.
Exchange rates have also weighed on the company's performance, cutting 8.6-percent from Nestlé's sales through the quarter.
Nestlé sales dipped to 24-billion US dollars over the first quarter compared with the 25 billion US dollars earned a year earlier.
In North and South America, Nestlé's sales growth has slowed to 4.1-percent from 5.1-percent.
Nestle's sales growth has also declined in Europe.
Sales have grown in countries such as the Philippines, Pakistan and Turkey.
China forex reserves hit 3.95 trln US dollars
The People's Bank of China is reporting this country's foreign exchange reserves have hit 3.95-trillion US dollars as of the end of March.
The figure is 130-billion more than the government controlled as of the end of last year.
By comparison, this country's foreign exchange reserves only totaled around 100-billion US dollars in 1996.
China overtook Japan to become the largest holder of foreign exchange reserves in 2006.
New development plan for Yellow River golden triangle
Anchor:
The State Council has approved a plan to promote regional cooperation in the so-called Yellow River "golden triangle."
The region, covering Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan, is being touted as a potential new engine for economic growth in central and western China.
Part of the plans include increasing transportation connectivity in the region.
The three provinces are also being tasked with cleaning up their respective environments.
For more on this, CRI's Shane Bigham spoke earlier with Gao Shang, Analyst with GuanTong Futures.
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Back Anchor:
Gao Shang, Analyst with GuanTong Futures, speaking with CRI's Shane Bigham.
U.S. deficit to shrink more than seen in 2014: CBO
New analysis is suggesting the U.S. government's budget gap is going to be narrower in the coming years, including this year.
The Congressional Budget Office has lowered its forecast for the this year's deficit to 492-billion US dollars.
This is 23-billion US dollars less than previously estimated.
The deficit projection is 2.8-percent of GDP, marking the smallest deficit since 2007.
Since 1980, the US deficit has averaged roughly 3.2-percent of GDP.
At the same time, CBO has also reduced the US government's projected 10-year deficit by 286-billion US dollars, to 7.6-trillion dollars.
Declining subsidies for state-sponsored medicare are being cited as the main reason for the decline in spending.
However, the CBO is projecting the US national deficit will begin widening again in 2016 and continue growing for years, driven in part by the aging population and rising health-care costs.
US government spending is expected to come in at 3.5-trillion US dollars this year, representing 20-percent of GDP.
Two-thirds of the spending will be directed to military-related programs and benefits for Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.
U.K. inflation falls to lowest since October 2009
Inflation in the U.K. has slowed in March to its lowest annual rate in more than 4-years.
UK inflation has come in at 1.6-percent in March.
This is down from 1.7-percent in February and the lowest annual rate since October 2009.
The decline is below the Bank of England's 2-percent annual target.
The Bank of England is expected to raise its benchmark interest rate from a low of 0.5-percent early next year as the U.K. economy picks up.
The slowdown in inflation in March is being credited with lower energy and clothing costs.
Housing prices in the UK are one area that is not seeing a slowdown.
House prices in England rose 9-percent in February, the fastest pace of growth since June 2010.
Australia Approves Site for Second Sydney Airport
The Australian government has approved the site for a second Sydney airport.
The new airport is expected to generate some 22.5-billion US dollars for the Australian economy over the next 50-years.
Sydney's second airport will be located at a site known as Badgerys Creek, which is more than 50 kilometers west of Sydney's central business district.
Construction is expected to begin in 2016.
Most of the costs are going to be covered by the private-sector.
The Australian government expects the new project will create around 4-thousand jobs through the construction phase.
Long term, the government expects the new airport will be home to around 35-thosand jobs in the next 20-years.
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