BizChina

Supervision of the investment of China's pension fund has become a more important issue than the pension system itself, Zheng Gongcheng, professor of Renmin University of China, said at a seminar Tuesday, the 21st Century Business Herald reported.

Pension fund-related issues, such as the investment operation of personal accounts, the social security fund and enterprise annuities began to get more attention amid expectations of inflation and worries that the fund may be devalued, the report said.

One of the reasons is that the earnings of the fund could not catch up with the rise of consumer prices for a long term, which led to huge losses on the account, the paper reported.

According to current regulations, China's national pension fund is only allowed to be deposited in banks or used to purchase treasury bonds. After subtracting the inflation rate, the average interest rates on personal-account funds invested in one-year bank deposit, three-year bank deposit and three-year treasury bonds are -0.11 percent, 0.73 percent and 1.25 percent respectively.

China will continue to lead the global initial public offering (IPO) market in terms of the funds raised and the number of deals, international accounting firm Ernst & Young said in a report on Tuesday.

Mainland companies dominated the global IPO market by raising $188 billion in 495 deals on the top four bourses - New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq Stock Market, London Stock Exchange and Hong Kong Stock Exchange - in the past decade, the report said.

"China will maintain its lead in the IPO market as more mainland companies tap overseas capital pools even as they expand their business locally," said Terence Ho, strategic growth markets and China IPO leader at Ernst & Young.

Hong Kong remains the main choice for mainland companies as a listing destination, while American bourses are the choice for small and high-growth information technology companies, Ho said.

East China's Jiangsu province bought 192,000 tons of cotton from abroad in the first five months of this year, up 280 percent from the same period last year, according to the provincial customs.

The imports were valued at $330 million, up 420 percent, with the average price up 39.1 percent to $1,700 per ton.

Of the total imports, 50.2 percent, or 96,000 tons, were bought from India, up 870 percent.

American economists are urging the Chinese government to strengthen efforts to spur domestic consumption in order to help ensure the sustainability of China's economic growth and maintain the balance of trade.

While applauding the efforts China has made in transforming from an export-orientated to a consumption-led economy, academics and senior researchers from the United States said there is still a large gap for the world's most populous nation to fill to bring domestic consumption into full play.

"An increase in consumption is for China's growth, and an increase of consumption helps reduce global imbalances," said Rachel Ziemba, a senior economist on China issues with Roubini Global Economics.