China´s short-term debt on the rise

China's outstanding foreign debts hit more than 390 billion US dollars by the end of March, a rise of almost 19 billion US dollars across the first quarter.

The Foreign Exchange Regulator also says the total amount of mid to long term foreign debt stood at almost 156 billion US dollars, an increase of 2.3 billion dollars from the end of last year. But short term debt accounted for just over 60 percent of China's total foreign debt by the end of March. It also made up a significant 88 percent of the increase across the first three months. And that is worthy of note, given that short-term debt is usually taken as an indicator of capital inflows speculating on a stronger yuan.

China has been making an active effort to limit inflows of speculative money by curbing short-term loans in foreign exchange.

Coal prices squeeze profits at power plants

A survey by the East China Electricity Regulatory Bureau suggests power plants in eastern provinces are set to face losses, if the price of thermal coal goes up a further 60 yuan per ton. And this is because profit margins for coal-fired plants are already under pressure from rising coal prices this year.

Margins are barely in excess of 0.01 yuan per kilowatt-hour. And even this would dissolve if thermal coal prices continue to surge. In efforts to keep power plants in the black, China's top economic planner has already raised average electricity tariffs by 0.025 yuan per kilowatt-hour.