➲ Overseas investment surges

China's overseas direct investment in non-financial sectors reached $4.4 billion in January, up 59.9 percent year on year, the Ministry of Commerce announced recently. The amount of investment calculated involved 355 overseas companies based in 87 countries and regions. As of the end of January, 811,000 Chinese were working in the investment projects abroad. The number was down 30,000 from the same period last year.

➲ Combating hot money

China will continue cracking down on illegal cross-border capital flows this year in an effort to protect economic and financial security, said the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). The SAFE investigated 3,488 cases of illegal cross-border capital flows in 2011, and confiscated a total of 503 million yuan ($80 million) in illegal funds, more than twice the amount collected in the previous year.

➲ Egypt IMF loan

Egypt discussed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the possibility to obtain a loan of $3.2 billion to support its economic reform, the official news agency MENA reported recently. Egypt was negotiating with the IMF about a program to push the production cycle, provide job opportunities and regain the investors' confidence. The talks with the IMF included methods of boosting the Egyptian economic reform amid recent adverse economic circumstances.

➲ Offshore wind farm

China will construct an offshore wind farm with an installed capacity of 300 megawatts in Laoting County, China's Hebei Province, making it the country's largest such project. The feasibility report has recently passed expert reviews that were commissioned by the National Energy Bureau. Under the program, the wind farm, built with a total investment of 5.76 billion yuan ($914 million), will comprise 100 units of 3-megawatt offshore turbines. The project will be connected to the grid before the end of 2015.

➲ Slower trade growth

China aims to expand its foreign trade by around 10 percent year on year in 2012, significantly slower than in 2011, as the country faces a "grim situation" in boosting its exports, said Zhang Xiaoqiang, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission recently. Zhang said China will suffer from weak external demand, increasing trade competition and disputes, the appreciation of the renminbi and rising costs for domestic enterprises. The growth of China's foreign trade has slowed down over the past few months.

➲ SA-Beijing direct

South African Airways, Africa's largest airline by turnover, launched a three-times-a-week non-stop route between Beijing and Johannesburg this January, using its Airbus A340-600 long-haul aircraft. Flights between Johannesburg and Beijing take 15 hours on average. It is the first direct route between the Chinese mainland and South Africa.

➲ Small reservoirs reinforcement

China aims to complete the reinforcement of all its small-sized reservoirs by the end of 2015, according to the Ministry of Finance. Reservoirs with a storage capacity between 100,000 cubic meters and 10 million cubic meters are categorized as "small" reservoirs in China. The reinforcement of reservoirs with a storage capacity of 1-10 million cubic meters will be finished by the end of 2012. The rest of the small reservoirs included in the plan will all be reinforced by the end of 2013. Since 2006, the central budget has allocated 59 billion yuan ($9.37 billion) in special funds to support the reinforcement of small reservoirs.

➲ Fruitful results

The Zambia-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone (ZCCZ) has generated around $500 million in tax revenue over the last five years, according to a press release from a ceremony held in February to celebrate the zone's five-year anniversary. Data showed that the zone has realized $4.35 billion in total sales revenues and created 12,000 jobs for Zambia in the past five years. The ZCCZ was established in Zambia in February 2007 as China's first overseas economic and trade cooperation zone established in Africa.

➲ Gold hits record

China produced a record 361 tons of gold in 2011, a rise of 5.89 percent year-on-year, according to data from the China Gold Association. That made the country the largest global gold producer for the fifth consecutive year. The five largest producing regions contributed nearly 60 percent of the nation's total gold output.

➲ Robust trade with BRICS

Yiwu, the largest small commodity market in China and one which supplies half of the world's Christmas products, saw strong growth in trade with the China's fellow BRICS countries in 2011. Exports to Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa reached $1.03 billion in 2011, up 52 percent from the previous year, said a statement issued in February by the customs department in Yiwu, a city in east China's Zhejiang Province.

$95 Million

China to give to African Union in the next three years

83%

Of ships built in China were exported in 2011

$75 Million

World Bank funds for development projects in Guinea

700 Thousand

People are faced with food insecurity in Mauritania

10-12%

Of African trade is within the continent