The Government of India and the State of Sikkim signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under the Scheme Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) today, for operational improvement of the State’s Power Distribution Department. With the signing of MoU, the total number of States covered under UDAY has reached twenty-two. read more
According to the “Guidelines on Drawing Up and Safeguarding Ecological Red Line,” the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, together with the regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, need to draw up a “red line” for ecological protection by the end of 2017, while other areas should come up with a “red line” before the end of 2018.
The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt are under China’s two key development strategies, and the decision to draw up the ecological red lines are deemed complementary to the strategies.
The red lines are based on China’s administrative divisions, but will eventually ensure the completeness of the ecological system across the country.
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The government has continued to sell shares in Lloyds Banking Group, reducing its remaining shareholding to less than 4%.
The latest sales, conducted via the trading plan, mean the government has recovered over £19 billion of the £20.3 billion taxpayers injected into Lloyds during the financial crisis, once share sales and dividends received are accounted for.
Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Kirby, said:
Since the decision to sell the government’s stake in Lloyds we have now recovered over £19 billion for the taxpayer.
Lloyds’ strong annual results show that we are in a good position to continue to reduce our shareholding and recover all of the money the tax-payer injected into the bank during the financial crisis.
A trading plan involves gradually selling shares in the market over time, in an orderly and measured way. The Lloyds trading plan initially ran from 17 December 2014 to 31 June 2016. The government announced on 7 October 2016 that further sales of Lloyds shares would also be made through a trading plan.
On 9 January 2017, the government announced it had passed a significant milestone in returning Lloyds to the private sector when it confirmed it was no longer the bank’s largest shareholder.
As required by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules, Lloyds Banking Group announced today that the government’s shareholding in the bank has crossed through a one percentage point threshold – therefore notifying the market that the government has reduced its shareholding in Lloyds to below 4%.
All proceeds from the sales are used to reduce the national debt.
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Zhao Lingyi, a post-90 woman, introduces her cakes to a customer in her shop in Weihai in Shandong province, Dec 19, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] |
A survey carried out by China Central Television indicates that those born in the 1990s and those above 60 are more confident about their financial health, reported chinanews.com.
The China’s Economic Life Survey, sponsored by CCTV, the National Bureau of Statistics, China Post and National School of Development at Peking University, suggests new trends in income, expenditure, social security, and life quality of Chinese people.
This year’s survey shows that 16 percent of post-1990s and 13 percent of those aged above 60 are confident about their financial prospects.
According to previous surveys, the confidence in income in 2015 rebounded to the highest point in recent years.
In terms of investment, Chinese households are relatively risk averse, with 35 percent investing in nothing. The most popular financial products are insurances – nearly two in five people chose to spend on them.
The survey also shows that 46 percent of respondents prefer to spend on tourism, leading in various kinds of consumption choices.
More than half said they “are under much pressure from work, and have no time to exercise”. At the same time, 34 percent said they buy heath care products and services.
When it comes to attitudes toward the second-child policy, 24 percent of respondents said they do not plan to have another child in short term due to economic pressure.
The survey collects feedbacks from 100,000 Chinese households in 104 cities across the country by sending them post cards with questionnaires. This year, big data technology was applied in the survey.
The detailed information about the survey will be aired on CCTV next month.
read moreThe international crude oil price of Indian Basket as computed/published today by Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was US$ 55.01 per barrel (bbl) on 22.02.2017. This was lower than the price of… read more