BEIJING: China’s Commerce Ministry said on Monday that China would sharply reduce restrictions on foreign investment access in 2017.
China will also step up opening up of sectors where foreign companies have strong investment interest and risks are under control, the ministry said on its microblog. No details were given on what restrictions will be changed.
Outbound investment
China’s non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) is likely to hit 1.12 trillion yuan ($161.19 billion) in 2016 and foreign direct investment into China will total 785 billion yuan, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said on Monday.
The government will “promote the healthy and orderly development of outbound investment and cooperation” in 2017, Gao said in remarks at a conference that were published on the ministry’s website.
China’s ODI in November jumped 76.5 percent from a year earlier and it rose 55.3 percent in the first 11 months of 2016, the ministry’s data showed, as local firms continued to invest abroad amid a slowing economy and weakening yuan.
Earlier this month, China published draft foreign investment guidelines, which it said would “increase openness to the outside world.”
Based on Gao’s forecasts, non-financial ODI is set to surpass foreign direct investment into China by an unprecedented 335 billion yuan this year, amid worries about capital outflows.
For all of 2015, the ministry reported non-financial ODI of 735.1 billion yuan, and FDI of 781.4 billion yuan.
Gao said that in 2017, difficulties faced in maintaining a stable flow of foreign investment into China will increase, while sources of volatility for China’s outbound investment will rise along with risks, according to an interview with state media published Monday.
Beijing has announced a string of measures recently to tighten controls on money moving out of the country, including closer scrutiny of outbound investments, as the yuan skids and the country’s foreign exchange reserves fall to the lowest levels in nearly six years.
China will further enhance the competitiveness of its foreign trade and consolidate recent good momentum, Gao added.
No tax on carbon emissions
China has passed a law that levies taxes on pollution, but ignores carbon dioxide, one of the major contributors to global warming, according to the web site of the country’s highest legislative body.
The National People’s Congress (NPC) standing committee passed the law, the first to tax polluters, on Sunday, less than a fortnight after a red alert for smog left more than 20 cities in the country’s northeast choking under a heavy haze.
Polluters will be charged for contributing to air, water and noise pollution, according to a copy of the legislation on the NPC’s official web site.
But CO2 did not make the list, which includes air and water pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and sulfite, taxed at rates beginning at 1.2 yuan ($0.17) and 1.4 yuan ($0.20) per unit respectively.
It also stipulates a monthly tax ranging from 350 to 11,200 yuan ($50 to $1612) for noise pollution.
The Environment Tax Law will come into effect on January 1, 2018. China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, due to its heavy reliance on coal to provide electricity to its population of 1.37 billion. The fuel has also contributed to the country’s severe smog problem.
Last week, cities across China’s northeast went on “red alert” for air pollution, triggering an emergency response that included taking large numbers of cars off the road and closing some factories.
The crisis also spurred a call by Chinese President Xi Jinping for the country to develop clean energy sources in order to reduce smog, Xinhua reported.