SXMElections.com

China tells banks to step up lending

BEIJING/SHANGHAI--China has told its banks to lend more in the final months of 2014 and relaxed enforcement of loan-to-deposit ratios to expand credit, sources told Reuters, as Beijing prepares to release data that could confirm the relentless slowing of its economy.
  Figures on inflation, imports and fiscal spending in November have already undershot expectations since the People's Bank of China (PBOC) sprang a surprise interest rate cut on Nov. 21, raising fears that the bid to boost lending could foreshadow more weak figures on industrial activity for the month, due on Friday, and on lending, due in the next few days.
  "I wouldn't be surprised by that at all," said Andrew Polk, resident economist for the Conference Board in Beijing Read more

China ready to cut rates again on fears of deflation

BEIJING--China's leadership and central bank are ready to cut interest rates again and also loosen lending restrictions, concerned that falling prices could trigger a surge in debt defaults, business failures and job losses, said sources involved in policy-making.

Friday's surprise cut in rates, the first in more than two years, reflects a change of course by Beijing and the central bank, which had persisted with modest stimulus measures before finally deciding last week that a bold monetary policy step was required to stabilise the world's second-largest economy.

Economic growth has slowed to 7.3 percent in the third quarter and policymakers feared it was on the verge of dipping below 7 percent - a rate not seen since the global financial crisis Read more

>MARIGOT:--- The first Vice President of the Collectivity of St. Martin Guillaume Arnell was elected senator of St. Martin on Sunday after two rounds of election. Arnell received 11 votes from of the 24 votes that were cast.
Arnell succeeds Louis Constant Fleming, the first person to represent St Read more