金融英语阅读辅导资料：China posts first monthly trade deficit since 2004
China reported over the weekend a $7.24 billion monthly trade deficit in March, its first in six years, which analysts said would be a short-lived phenomenon given the country’s export-oriented economy.Beijing’s exports jumped 24.3 percent, year-on-year, last month to $112.11 billion, while imports surged 66 percent to $119.35 billion, the first monthly trade deficit since April 2004, when the trade deficit was $2.26 billion.
The announcement came after repeated Chinese officials’ predictions of a deficit for March. Premier Wen Jiabao and Commerce Minister Chen Deming last month projected the likeliness of a trade deficit for the month, with Wen putting the figure at $8 billion.
Beijing’s trade surplus, gained by its export-based economy, has shrunk following the government’s efforts to boost imports amid the global financial crisis. The first quarter’s trade surplus was $14.49 billion, down 76.7 percent from the same period last year.
The General Administration of Customs (GAC) said in a report that the March deficit is a result of the shrinking exports of labor-intensive products, surging imports and rising commodity prices.
Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, attributed the late Spring Festival, cold weather that pushed up energy imports, an increase in raw materials imports and the policy to expand the import of technologies, equipment and resources, as key factors in contributing to the trade deficit.
However, Mei predicted that China would not post an overall trade deficit in 2010 because the processing trade that naturally leads to surplus still dominates China’s exports, according to his blog on sohu.com.
Tian Yun, vice president of the China Macro Economics Institute, said March’s trade deficit was only a temporary phenomenon and the country will remain a surplus country in the long run.
The March trade deficit is mainly a result of expanded deficits with the Taiwan region, Japan and South Korea, customs figures indicated.
The March deficit with Japan more than tripled over the same month of last year to $6.53 billion, and its deficit with South Korea jumped 76 percent to $6.13 billion. The Chinese mainland’s deficit with Taiwan amounted to $7.9 billion in March, up 78.7 percent, year-on-year.
However, China continued to report a trade surplus with the United States and the European Union. The March surplus with the US dropped 3.5 percent to $9.87 billion, year-on-year, and that with the EU fell by 13.1 percent to $6.96 billion, customs figures showed.
The US and the EU have long pushed China to revalue its yuan, which has been pegged at around 6.83 per dollar since July 2008, claiming that the weaker yuan gives an unfair advantage to the country’s exports. China argued that a quick appreciation of the yuan could hurt exports, cause unemployment among laborers and hurt social stability.
’Yuan not to blame’
Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian said Saturday that China’s trade deficit in March proves that the exchange rate is not the decisive factor affecting the trade balance.来www.Examw.com
"China’s trade surplus continued to fall, and China even posted a trade deficit in March under a basically stable yuan exchange rate," Yao said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday paid a brief visit to Beijing, during which he was believed to have held talks with Vice Premier Wang Qishan over the yuan.
Zheng Jianmin, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics, said that the deficit is a result of an adjustment in the division of labor in the post-financial crisis era and will be an overriding trend in China’s international trade.
However, he said the trade deficit will not help relieve the pressure on China to appreciate the yuan.
"But China will not bend to the pressure to let the yuan rise too soon. Hot money will come in and hurt China’s economy if China rushes to raise the yuan’s value," Zheng said.
Song Shengxia contributed to this story
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