RMB rising

The Chinese currency, or RMB, of which the central parity rate has risen against the dollar for three consecutive trading days, rose to a record high of 6.5849 against the U.S. dollar on February 10. China's central bank announced on June 19 last year that it would further reform the RMB exchange rate mechanism to improve its flexibility. On China's foreign exchange spot market, the RMB can rise or fall 0.5 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

Patent filings

The Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced recently that China's international patent filings, under WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), surged by 56.2 percent in 2010, leading the global growth in international patent filings, which saw a 4.8-percent increase over the period. In 2010, China filed 12,337 patents under the PCT system, up from 7,900 cases registered in the previous year to become the fourth-ranked PCT filing country worldwide. Two Chinese companies, ZTE Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., were ranked among the top 10 applicants under the PCT system.

Drought battle

The Chinese Government pledged to spend at least 6.7 billion yuan ($1.02 billion) to battle the drought plaguing huge areas in the country's north and posing a grave threat to the wheat production. Apart from a 10-measure package aiming to spur grain production, the Central Government also decided to pay crop-growers higher prices for their produce to offset damage to their yield in the drought-stricken areas. Eight major grain-producing provinces, including Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan, Hebei and Shanxi, have been affected. Together they produce more than 80 percent of China's winter wheat. 

CPI 4.9%

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, had a year-on-year increase of 4.9 percent in January. The rise in CPI can be attributed to the consumption hike triggered by the Chinese New Year holiday and the severe drought in the northern region, analysts said. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the wholesale price index of agricultural products rose 10 percent in January compared to the same period last year.

Software smiles

China's software companies will continue to enjoy preferential value-added tax treatment and will be granted new income tax exemptions, said the State Council. Industry analysts estimate that the income tax cut alone will provide an additional 5 to 10 percent profit to Chinese software companies in 2011. The Chinese software industry has grown at an average rate of 28 percent during the past five years, following average growth of 45 percent between 2001 and 2005.

Numbers:

$737 Million

Zambia's forecasted mining tax revenue in 2011

 200,000

Number of authorized Internet cafes in China by 2010

$310 Million

Estimated daily loss to Egypt due to its recent protests

2.57 Million

Number of people suffering from drinking water shortages in China because of the persisting drought

4 Million Tons

New vehicle sales in Beijing in 2010