BRICS Business

China set to hasten process of approving foreign drugs

High drug costs and a lack of access to the most recent treatments is a major flashpoint in China [Xinhua]China is considering taking measures to shorten the time to market for approved imported drugs, the Food and Drug administration said in a document published on its website.
Beijing is seeking public opinion for a draft plan to hasten the process of approving foreign drugs to be sold in the Chinese mainland.
China is the world’s second-largest drug market.

S&P sees ‘better’ growth in BRICS in 2017

Strong data from mining and manufacturing helped boost the South African economy in Q2, but the economy slipped in Q4 [Xinhua]
Ratings agency S&P Global Ratings (S&P) expects better economic growth in BRICS countries this year as Brazil and Russia recover from recessions, India and South Africa improve on their 2016 performance and China only slips slightly from high growth in 2016.

Vodafone announces mega Indian merger

The combined Vodafone-Idea group are set to become India’s largest telecom operation with almost 400 million customers, or 35 per cent market share [File photo]Heralding the making of India’s largest telecom player, UK’s Vodafone group and Indian telecom firm Idea Cellular agreed on Monday to merge their Indian operations within two years, a joint statement said on Monday.
“The combined company will have the scale required to ensure sustainable consumer choice in a competitive market and to expand new technologies,” Vodafone Group PLC Chief Executive Vittoria Colao said.

Saudi King signs multi-billion dollar trade deals with China

Chinese President Xi Jinping (2nd L) holds talks with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (3rd R) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 19, 2016 [Xinhua]
Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who is on a three-day visit to China, has fully endorsed the One China policy when dealing with the issue of Taiwan.
The Saudi monarch’s visit to China is part of the kingdom’s new initiative to boost economic and strategic cooperation with a number of Asian states.

Russia’s Lukoil calls for more oil cuts

Russia and Saudi Arabia may be forced to push for more oil production cuts during an OPEC meeting in Vienna in May [Xinhua]
Vagit Alekperov, the president of Russia’s largest energy company Lukoil, is encouraging OPEC and non-OPEC countries to extend their oil production cuts to help prop prices.
Oil prices have recently dipped despite the cuts and largely due to a revival in shale oil production in the US.

Beijing, Manila sign $1.7 billion trade deal

Trade ties have significantly improved since Xi called Duterte’s October visit to Beijing a “milestone” in China-Philippine relations [Xinhua]
China and the Philippines signed a $1.7 billion deal that would see Manila’s agricultural exports boosted in the coming months.
According to Chinese news reports, the deal is designed to balance trade between the two countries, quoting Beijing’s ambassador to Manila.

China: Property sales, data shows sturdy economy

A slew of data shows that the Chinese economy is regaining momentum of years past [Xinhua]
Goldman Sachs chief China strategist Kinger Lau has told Chinese media that the flow of investment fund from China to Hong Kong will jump by nearly 70 per cent in 2017 from last year.
The flow of investment funds from the mainland has already reached $8 billion in the first two months of 2017 but is expected to hit $54 billion.
The amount invested in two cross-border stock links last year was $32 billion.

Inventory reduction gap hits South Africa GDP growth

File photo: The Mall of Africa in Midrand, near Johannesburg, South Africa [Xinhua]
South African real GDP growth was pulled down to 0.5 per cent in 2016 as inventory reduction sapped growth, while final sales jump 1.2 per cent, official figures have shown.
The United Nations System of National Accounts, the international hand book for national accountants, states that a reduction in inventories should subtract from gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

When will Brazil emerge from the worst ever recession?

Brazil must diversify its trade portfolio to include certain industrial areas where it can truly compete on a global level [Xinhua]
Try as they may, Brazil’s legislators have been unable to carve a dent in what has now become the worst recession in the country’s history.
Recent data from the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) – the country’s official statistics agency – shows that Brazil’s GDP growth contracted by 3.6 per cent in 2016.