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.
North Korean leader Kim Jung Un is said to have supervised the latest missile engine test [Xinhua]
Chinese President Xi Jinping has hailed cooperation with Washington following his meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as the two countries struggle with the North Korean crisis.
On Sunday, North Korea confirmed that it had conducted a test of a new “high-thrust” rocket engine which was personally supervised by its leader Kim Jong Un.
Washington took on a more aggressive stance following the rocket engine test, with some pundits suggesting a military option.
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 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.
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.
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.
The Liaoning has been carrying out drills in the South China Sea since early December [Xinhua]
Chinese President Xi Jinping told the third plenary of the National People’s Congress on Sunday that a key goal of his government is to consistently upgrade and modernize the military to meet existing and future challenges.
“Efforts should be made to provide greater science and technology support for the People’s Liberation Army,” Chinese media quoted Xi as saying.
Children have been the most affected by years of siege and war in Syria [Xinhua]
More than 36 tons of humanitarian aid, including clothes, food and medicines have been delivered to needy Syrians throughout the country in the past nine days, the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation said on Saturday.
Russian forces have carried out about a dozen humanitarian missions directly on the ground and through air lifts in Hama, Deir e Zor, Rif Damashq and Aleppo, including districts of Hananu Al Amaliyah, Qasiliyah and Sheikh Maqsood, as well as Wadi Dahab in Homs.
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.
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.
