HOME>NEWS CENTER>The 4th Board of Directors of IFF (2018-2023)
IFF Newsletter Issue 105
TIME：2024-01-05
From the Editor
China and Thailand have agreed on a bilateral deal to waive visa requirements for travel starting March 1, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Tavisin announced on Tuesday. The US government debt topped $34 trillion for the first time. The number of people unemployed in Germany increased by 5,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.703 million in December. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in South Korea rose 7.5% in 2023.
China’s New Year holiday travels surpass pre-pandemic levels
China recorded 135 million domestic trips during the three-day New Year holiday, up 155% from last year and 9.4% from 2019, data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism showed on Monday.
Domestic tourism revenue rose 200.7% to 79.73 billion yuan.
More than 128 million passenger trips were made on China’s transport network, up 78.4% from 2023, according to figures from the Ministry of Transport.
Ice and snow leisure tourism surged 126% during the holiday with China’s “ice city” Harbin welcoming more than 3 million visitors.
China’s factory activity contracts in December
China’s factory activity contracted for a third straight month in December, official data showed on Sunday.
The official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 49 in December, down from 49.4 the previous month, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. The 50 mark separates growth from contraction.
Chinese factories were faced with the double whammy of a drop in overseas orders and a shortage of domestic demand, according to NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe.
China’s lottery sales rose 45.1% year on year to 526.41 billion yuan in the first 11 months of 2023, data from the Ministry of Finance showed.
Sales of lottery tickets in November fell 2.5% year on year to 50.54 billion yuan, according to official data.
The drop was mainly attributable to high base of comparison in the previous year, the ministry said.
China’s natural gas consumption rose 7.3% year on year in the first 11 months of 2023, data from the National Development and Reform Commission showed on Saturday.
Consumption of natural gas rose 9.4% in November from the previous year, the data showed.
China’s local governments issued 9.14 trillion yuan new bonds in the first 11 months of 2023, data from the Ministry of Finance showed.
China’s outstanding local government debts stood at 40.64 trillion yuan, according to the ministry.
China announced concrete measures in six areas to bolster support for the private economy, according an official from the country’s top economic planner.
Speaking at a conference, Zheng Shanjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission said the country will take pragmatic measures to accelerate the legislative process on the promotion of the private economy, improve communications with private enterprises, strengthen the analysis of the private economy’s development and expand private enterprises’ participation in major national engineering projects.
Newsletter
International News
China and Thailand have agreed on a bilateral deal to waive visa requirements for travel starting March 1, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Tavisin announced on Tuesday.
Srettha said the measure would not only boost Thailand’s tourism industry but upgrade bilateral relations.
China’s foreign ministry said the exemption would enhance the two countries’ people to people exchange.
The US government debt hit record high of $34 trillion in 2023.
According to data published by the US Treasury Department, “total public debt outstanding” reached $34.001 trillion on December 29.
The rise came just three months after the US national debt surpassed $33 trillion.
Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget called the record figure “depressing”.
She said in a statement that “though our level of debt is dangerous for both our economy and for national security, America just cannot stop borrowing.”
Unemployment rose slightly in Germany in December, official data showed on Wednesday.
The number of people unemployed increased by 5,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.703 million in December.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 5.9% in December.
The number of people without a job increased by 191,000 to 2.6 million in 2023 compared to 2022.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in South Korea rose 7.5% in 2023 from the previous year, Yonhap reported.
The country received 32.7 billion FDI last year compared with $30.4 billion a year earlier, data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
Investment in electronics sector including chips expanded 17.7% to $4 billion last year, the data showed.
Singapore’s economy expanded 2.8% in the fourth quarter in 2023 from the previous year, official data showed on Tuesday.
The country’s economy grew 1.7 on a quarter on quarter seasonally adjusted basis.
The economy rose 1.2% for 2023, down from 3.6% in 2022.
