For GD's Economic Recovery, Structural Adjustment is Key
The Guangdong Government held a meeting to analyze the province's economic situation in the first half of the year. The authorities indicated that although there were signs the economy is recovering, major issues such as the economy's structural adjustment as well as the immediate pressure to reduce waste emissions do threaten growth and predictions show that the recovery will slow down in the 2nd half of the year.


Passenger Flow Increases as Vehicle Limitation Measures in Place
Today (19th) is the 3rd day and also the first working day since the vehicle limitation measures were put in place for a four day test. Traffic in Guangzhou was fine over the weekend but what about today? Our journalist Chang Zhifeng went to a populous area in Baiyun Disctrict to have a look:
At the bus station, many passengers told us there were more people waiting to take the bus than usual. Mr. Yang, who takes a taxi to work every day, noticed the same thing:
"There used to be a lot of taxis waiting outside our living community every morning, dozens of them, but today I can only see 2. Because of the new vehicle limitation measures, those who can't drive today shall take a taxi. "
It does seem that taxi drivers are the ones benefiting from the measure. Mr. Zhu told us:
"Usually we make an average of 50 Yuan per hour, that's what it used to be. Now, for example, last Saturday, I made over 65 Yuan. "

Chinese Yuan Stops Appreciating
The latest data from the China Foreign Exchange Trading System shows that the Chinese Yuan's daily benchmark, or the central parity rate to the US dollar, is of 6.78 Yuan today (19th). This represents a drop of 82 points from yesterday (18th). It looks as if the Yuan could be stabilizing against the USD.