China to Lower Tax Rebate Rate

china is going to decrease the export tax rebate rate this year to help realize the goal of energy saving in the next five years.

Recently, Yao Jian, the spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) of China, said: “In order to fulfill the goal of reducing energy consumption by 20% in the 11th Five-year Period (2006-2010), the government will decrease the export tax rebate rate of some kinds of commodities.”

But he stressed that the lowering export tax rebate rate doesn’t mean the tightening foreign trade policy of China, which still prefers stable trade policy.

It is known that some commodities that have large energy and natural resource consumption and cause serious pollution will see the decrease of export tax rebate rate. Bai Ming, deputy diretcor of the International Market Department, MOC’s International Trade and Financial Cooperation Research Institution, applauded for the decrease of tax rebate rate. But he stressed that there are many ways of saving energy and resources. The decrease of tax rebate rate should depend on the reasonable plans.

In addition, Yao Jian said that a large increase occurred to the trade surplus of China in May, but the debt crisis haunting Europe in these months may impact China in the coming future. According to the data of the MOC, China’s exports to the EU in the first five months increased by 34%, showing that the European debt crisis has no effect. Because it usually took two months from giving orders to delivering goods and then to the final trade settlement, the data in May reflects the exports condition in March. According to the forecast, EU will only see 0.7% economic growth this year. In Yao Jian’s opinion, China needs to take stable foreign trade policy when the outer environment is not stable.

In addition, Yao Jian said that the growth rate of import for China was twice of the export in the first five months, which provided important exports market for Japan, Korea, Australia and Brazil. Though China still keeps trade surplus in the trade with the USA, EU and India, the import from these countries grows at a faster pace. For example, in the first five months of this year, China saw 80% increase in the import from India. With the recovery of China’s economy, the country will increase the import, giving it the stimulus to grow rapidly. The trade surplus will be greatly decreased at the end of this year.