A government-backed think tank is predicting first quarter gross domestic product growth to fall to 6.85 percent Lonzo Ball Lakers Jersey , as a vice-finance minister said this year could be the "most challenging" economic environment since the global financial crisis in 2008.
A report by the National Academy of Economic Strategy, under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said GDP growth will slip from the fourth quarter's 7.3 percent and the key inflation gauge, the consumer price index, will rise 1.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter.
If its prediction proves right, it would be the second-worst quarterly performance since the first quarter of 2009, when growth plunged to 6.1 percent in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
Using a set of monthly data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, Bloomberg has calculated that monthly GDP growth in January slowed to 6.85 percent and 6.28 percent in February.
Wang Hongju, a CASS researcher, said, however, that China has "ample ammunition" to deal with downward economic pressure in the second quarter, including reserve requirement ratio cuts, loan-deposit ratio adjustments and infrastructure spending.
The new CASS figures came as vice-minister of finance Zhu Guangyao said over the weekend that he considered the current international economic environment as the most challenging since the global financial crisis.
He told the China Development Forum that under current conditions the country should adopt a "proactive fiscal policy" while maintaining a prudent monetary policy that is "neither too loose nor too tight".
The government has expressed its willingness to allow its biggest ever budget deficit in 2015 since 2008 to support spending. The Ministry of Finance has also announced that local governments will be able to swap 1 trillion yuan ($161.2 billion) of maturing, high-interest local debt for new official municipal or provincial bonds, to help ease their repayment burden.
Zhu said the swap arrangements would allow China to rein in possible risks from short-term local government bonds.
But the authorities, he emphasized, must prevent the problem of "moral hazard", without elaborating further, referring to an economic situation in which one party takes more risk because someone else is likely to bear the burden of that risk.
The ministry's priorities this year, he said, include structural tax cuts, especially unnecessary fees imposed on micro and small firms, and spending previously idle government funds.
He also said the government should reflect the massive stimulus policies adopted a few years ago. These policies are believed to be causes of the current economic woes.
Cai Hongbin, dean of Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, said despite ongoing challenges, the government - compared with some Western counterparts - has a "much more powerful" toolbox at its disposal to stabilize the economy.
However, he warned that China also has weaknesses in its "market mechanisms" too, for example an inflexible labor market and an inefficient financial market. "That's what the government has to fix, and the willingness to fix these shortfalls will determine business confidence and whether the investment environment recovers," he said.
HO CHI MINH CITY, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan runners won both men's and women's titles of the international marathon which took place here on Sunday, with the participation of over 5,000 athletes from 44 countries and regions.
In the men's race, Keter Peter finished first in 2:28:47, followed by his compatriot and a Vietnamese runner.
In the women's category, Rotich Jane clocked in 3:02:34, also followed by Kenyan and Vietnamese runners.
Besides the 42km event, the event also included 21km and 10km races.
LONDON, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Britain's world famous Oxford University has offered more places to women than men, it was confirmed Thursday.
It prompted the Times newspaper to report it is the first time in history that men have been overtaken in the race for places at Oxford.
Figures show that last year 1,275 women received offers from Oxford compared with 1,165 men. Of those, 1,070 women got the grades to secure their place compared with 1,025 men.
The gender gap at Cambridge has also narrowed with 1,140 men starting their studies last fall compared with 1,055 women.
The Times said that data, from the universities admissions body Ucas, dates back only to 2012, but men are likely to have outnumbered women since the first Oxford college was established in 1249, though records of education being offered in Oxford date back 1,000 years.
A spokeswoman at Oxford told Xinhua: "We can't say for certain whether this is the first time in history that Oxford has let in more women than men, but it certainly is the first time since 2012 which is as far back as this year's UCAS figures go. And while it's too early to call this a trend based on one year's numbers, it is a welcome sign of progress for female applicants to Oxford."
Women were first admitted to Oxford university when Lady Margaret Hall opened its doors as an all-women college in 1878. Women could only attend lectures and were not allowed to take degrees, however. They became full members of the university in 1920.
The Good University Guide for 2018 shows the number of better-off children still dwarfs those from poorer backgrounds.
At Oxford 1,340 students came from the richest homes last year and 105 from the poorest. At Cambridge it was 1,135 to 110.
The number of university applications across the country fell last year, a result of a smaller cohort of 18-year-olds.
The Oxford Mail newspaper, published in the university city, said the new figures also reveal a record number of Asian students admitted to Oxford in 2017.
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