Sinopec to cancel graduates employment

Sinopec Group, China's largest oil refiner, confirmed that the group's subsidiaries canceled some of their pre-signed employment agreements in January, given that their yearly quotas for recruitment have been reduced or eliminated due to their gloomy outlook.

The terminated agreements involved some 800 students who are due to graduate in July 2013. They signed employment agreements with some of Sinopec's subsidiaries at the end of 2012 or earlier, said Lü Dapeng, the group's spokesperson. He added that the concerned students have received compensation according to the terms of the pre-signed agreements.

"Our subsidiaries used to get quotas from Sinopec human resources every year without much change in the amount. They got used to recruiting independently and signing agreements with graduates before the quota distribution. But in 2013, the group shifted independent recruitment to fairer centralized recruitment and reduced the quotas for some inefficient branches," Lü said.

China think tank predicts 8.4 pct China GDP growth

The Center for Forecasting Science with the Chinese Academy of Sciences said China's GDP will grow in 2013 at a rate of 8.4 percent, up by 0.6 percentage points from that of 2012.

It expects China's economy will see a modest rebound in 2013, with secondary and tertiary industries rising by 8.9 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively.

It put year-on-year growth in primary industry at 4.7 percent.

Consumption and investment will drive economic growth up by between 4.2 and 4.5 percent, while exports from the world's second-largest economy are expected to decline by 0.3 percent, the center's figures show.

China's annual gross domestic product in 2012 grew 7.8 percent year on year, the lowest in 13 years.

China's Qianhai cross-border loan scheme starts with 2b yuan

China kicked off its cross-border yuan loan scheme in Qianhai today with Hong Kong-based banks signing some 2 billion yuan in lending to mainland Chinese firms for 26 projects, a banker with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The agreements are a step towards opening China's capital account and internationalising its currency.

China had announced it would let firms in Qianhai, a $45 billion special economic zone in Shenzhen near Hong Kong, take out yuan loans from banks in Hong Kong, with tenors and interest rates to be set independently, also a major step towards liberalising the country's interest rate mechanisms.

Fifteen banks agreed to provide a total of 2 billion yuan in loans for 26 projects in Qianhai, the banker who attended the signing ceremony said.