Swedish PM debates on more housing policy

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

STOCKHOLM, Jan. 16(Greenpost) –After the twice press conference on housing crisis in Sweden held by Swedish Housing Crisis committee led by Klas Eklund, SEB senior economist, the government began to pay attention to this issue.

On Wednesday Swedish Prime Minister Stefen Löfven  and Financial Minister Andersson and Housing and IT Minister Kaplan jointly wrote a debate article on DN to suggest more housing to be built in Sweden.

Their goal is to build 700 thousand houses or apartments by 2025.

Their suggestions include simplifying permission rules, having more building capacity and increasing circulation.

This means the housing crisis report has been taken seriously now by the government after the second press conference in Dec. 15, 2015.

Economist Eklund argued that Sweden has a housing crisis because there are new immigrants and refugees who are urgently needing place to live.

Nya reformer för fler bostäder

STOCKHOLM, Jan. 16(Greenpost)–Statsminister Stefan Löfven, finansminister Magdalena Andersson och bostads-, stadsutvecklings- och IT-minister Mehmet Kaplan, debattartikel, DN Debatt, den 13 januari 2016

Regeringen kommer att under 2016 prioritera investeringar och reformer för fler jobb, förbättrade skolresultat och ökat bostadsbyggande. I dag presenterar vi inriktningen för att öka takten i bostadsbyggandet.

Vi har påbörjat ett nytt samhällsbygge. Vi investerar kraftigt i Sveriges nya jobbagenda – med infrastruktursatsningar, en ny exportstrategi och bättre tillgång till riskkapital för små och medelstora företag.

På skolområdet investerar vi i ett nytt kunskapslyft med över 50 000 nya utbildningsplatser så att fler kan ta de jobb som växer fram. I år förverkligas också vår satsning på höjda lärarlöner, mindre klasser i lågstadiet och ökat stöd till de skolor som behöver det mest.

Regeringen har tagit en rad beslut för att göra det snabbare, enklare och billigare att bygga bostäder. Vi har förkortat överklagandeprocessen, lagt fram en ny bullerförordning, satsat på energieffektiva och klimatsmarta byggnader och har inlett den största bostadssatsningen på över 20 år. Redan i år förväntas bostadsbyggandet vara det högsta sedan början av 1990-talet.

Sverige har även fortsatt behov av investeringar och strukturreformer, för att fler ska arbeta, skolresultat ska höjas och bostadsbyggandet ska öka. Det akuta krisläget i flyktingmottagandet som uppstod under hösten 2015 fotsätter att kräva stora ansträngningar av det svenska samhället. Regeringen gör det som krävs för att få till stånd en bättre fördelning av antalet flyktingar i Europa. Det kommer framöver att ställa stora krav på politiken för att de som kommit till Sverige snabbt ska komma in i samhället, kunna bidra och göra sin plikt.

Vi ska ta vara på att vi nu har ett gott ekonomiskt läge med den fjärde högsta tillväxttakten i Europa. Sedan regeringen tillträdde förra hösten har antalet människor som har ett arbete att gå till ökat med nästan 70 000. Både långtidsarbetslösheten och ungdomsarbetslösheten sjunker. Under 2015 har vi halverat budgetunderskottet. Det gör oss bättre rustade att ta itu med de utmaningar och möjligheter som nu ligger framför oss.

Boverket uppskattar behovet av nya bostäder år 2025 till över 700 000. Med den byggtakt vi har i dag kommer inte samhället att klara det behovet. I stället för att kämpa om vilken regering som står med problemen om nio år bör alla ansvarstagande partier redan nu hitta innovativa och realistiska sätt att öka människors möjlighet att flytta till ett boende som passar jobb- och familjesituation i hela landet. För att klara det behöver vi lägga politiska låsningar och konflikter åt sidan. Låt oss debattera de enskilda förslagen men vara överens om att målet är att tillgodose behovet av nya bostäder. I det arbetet är regeringen beredd att göra det som krävs.

Det finns en stor potential i ett ökat bostadsbyggande och ökad rörlighet på arbetsmarknaden både för samhället och individer. Det är en möjlighet att öka antalet jobb och minska arbetslösheten genom att fler utbildas till byggbranschen och får jobb. Det är en möjlighet för ökad tillväxt och bättre matchning med växande företag som kan rekrytera personal utanför sin egen region. Skenande bostadspriser motverkas. Samtidigt som unga kan flytta hemifrån, barnfamiljer flytta till större och äldre till ett mer anpassade boende.

Regeringen tar därför i dag initiativ till breda politiska samtal om hur vi ökar byggtakten med Moderaterna, Centerpartiet, Liberalerna, Kristdemokraterna och Vänsterpartiet. Samtalen kommer att ledas av finansminister Magdalena Andersson och bostads- och stadsutvecklingsminister Mehmet Kaplan. Regeringen ser att det inom tre områden krävs reformer och nytänkande för att öka byggandet.

1 Förenkla regelverken: korta tiden från idé till färdigt hem

Ska vi öka byggandet tillräckligt måste staten och kommunerna arbeta tillsammans. Regeringen kommer att fortsätta arbetet med att förändra plan- och byggreglerna i syfte att förenkla, främja konkurrens och korta tiden från idé till färdigt hem. Exempelvis se över om det skulle kunna gå att bygga med bara översiktsplan som grund och att ha samma överklagandemöjligheter för bygg- och rivningslov som för detaljplaner.

Regeringen är beredd att se över krav på bostadsbyggande för kommunerna. Om inte varje kommun tar ansvar för att det byggs tillräckligt för regionens och nationens behov skulle dessa krav kunna göras bindande.

2 Öka byggkapaciteten

För att avsevärt kunna öka byggtakten i Sverige behöver kapaciteten att bygga fler bostäder utökas. Regeringen vill kraftigt öka antalet utbildningar som kan ge arbetslösa möjligheter att arbeta i byggbranschen. Den svenska marknaden behöver även i större utsträckning än i dag öppnas för utländska byggbolag. Dessa ska dock självfallet arbeta under svenska villkor och svenska kollektivavtal.

En modell med typgodkända hustyper eller certifierade entreprenörer skulle kunna snabba upp och förenkla plan- och byggprocessen och samtidigt leda till en industriell utveckling av prefabhus.

Som ett komplement till de större insatserna att få fram fler bostäder vill regeringen se över om statliga bolag kan ges större möjligheter att se till att det byggs nya bostäder. Akademiska Hus bygger i dag studentbostäder och bör vara en aktuell aktör. Specialfastigheter kan vara en annan sådan aktör. Syftet skulle vara att få fram fler bostäder åt studenter, ungdomar och övriga grupper som har svårt att etablera sig på bostadsmarknaden.

Vi behöver möjliggöra bostadsbyggande på statligt ägda fastigheter genom en modell för avyttring eller upplåtelse av statligt ägda fastigheter. Regeringen är också beredd att ta ytterligare steg för att se över hur lokal infrastruktur kan planeras och finansieras i syfte att skapa attraktiv bostadsmark genom effektiva transportlösningar.

3 Finansiering och ökad rörlighet

Regeringen har infört ett investeringsstöd för hyresrätter och ekonomisk stimulans till kommuner för ökat byggande. Regeringen vill se över behovet av att komplettera investeringsstödet med nya former av hyresgarantier. Samtidigt behöver kapitalförsörjningen till mindre aktörer ses över. Om behov finns är regeringen beredd att tillföra medel till SBAB för utlåning till allmännytta, byggföretag och kommuner för nybyggnation av både hyresrätter och bostadsrätter.

Det befintliga bostadsbeståndet behöver också användas mer effektivt. Regeringen vill inom ramen för dagens samlade beskattning av bostadssektorn se över skatternas utformning för att främja ökad rörlighet på bostadsmarknaden.

För att investeringarna och strukturreformerna ska vara möjliga i dagens svåra parlamentariska läge krävs samarbetsvilja och samförstånd. Vi är beredda att fortsätta utveckla bostadspolitiken tills byggtakten möter behoven på bostadsmarknaden. Utmaningarna måste antas tillsammans – i bred samverkan med näringsliv, fackförbund, civilsamhälle, forskare och politiker på alla nivåer.

Ett hållbart samhällsbygge kräver samarbete. Därför vill vi samla Sverige för att bygga ett starkare land tillsammans.

瑞典外交大臣瓦尔斯特罗姆被人抓住把柄

北欧绿色邮报网报道(记者陈雪霏)--瑞典女外交大臣马约特.瓦尔斯特罗姆日前让媒体抓住了把柄,报道她在向劳工组织租房子过程中租得太便宜,让人怀疑是一种受贿。

瓦尔斯特罗姆认为是LO自愿租给她的,但是LO领导人诺德斯特罗姆说不是那么回事。

此事让人想起多年以前前社民党党首萨琳曾因为用公款为自己买巧克力的事情而遭谴责。

瑞典《每日新闻》领导者栏目专门对瓦尔斯特罗姆最近的言行进行了拷问,认为她说话有点不太合适,没有过脑子。

领导者栏目另一篇评论号召亚洲国家要团结起来联合对付恐怖主义,文章提到在雅加达居然发生类似巴黎的袭击事件。

瑞典宣布不承认西撒哈拉

北欧绿色邮报网报道(记者陈雪霏)--瑞典内务部长于格曼15日晚对记者说,瑞典不承认西撒哈拉。

舆论认为这是对议会决定的忽视,对摩洛哥王国的重视。其中的原因是可以和他们做更多的贸易。

据报道,瑞典大城市里有一些非法移民过来的摩洛哥儿童,已经显现出游手好闲的不良倾向。有人甚至希望把他们遣返回国内。

Commentary: Time for EU to grant China market economy status

by Xinhua writer Chen Jipeng

BEIJING, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) — It is high time for European Union (EU) member states to grant full market economy status to China, the second largest trading partner of the 28-nation bloc.

The market economy status is relevant for Chinese exporters because it determines the way in which dumping is assessed in EU’s trade remedy cases against imports from China. With market economies, the assessment of dumping is based on a comparison of the export price and the domestic price of the product in question.

However, China’s non-market economy status is often cited so that the domestic price in China is not considered a suitable benchmark. The export price is compared with domestic price of a surrogate country.

In one of such cases, the United States was chosen as a surrogate country to assess the price levels of stainless steel from China. This is obviously unfair given the much higher labor cost in the United States and the tendency of the producers in the United States — who compete against Chinese companies — to inflate price estimates.

Fortunately, the legal basis for such an obviously unfair practice will no longer exist starting from Dec. 11 this year, under the provisions of the World Trade Organization accession protocol signed by China.

Commissioners from the EU’s 28 members will on Wednesday debate for the first time the issue of granting China full market economy status from December.

Legal experts are of the opinion that the European Union should grant China full market economy status, according to European media reports.

The non-market economy status of China, however, has often become a convenient weapon for trade protectionists. Some of the EU members have continued to be swaying over the issue to retain an unfair advantage.

Nevertheless, the undoubtedly protectionist practice is obviously out of time. Despite its existence, bilateral trade between China and the EU have been growing quickly. China is now the EU’s second largest trading partner and one of the biggest markets for the 28-member bloc. The idea of free trade and comparative advantage has been the driving force behind the phenomenal growth. Sticking to a weapon of protectionism would only increase frictions rather than help the gigantic bilateral trade.

It is known that China has built an efficient market economy to achieve remarkable growth over the decades and it is duly recognized by more than 80 countries, including Russia, New Zealand, Singapore and Australia.

A quick look at the list of the countries that the EU has recognized as market economy tells us that China deserves the market status, too.

It is advisable for some of the EU members to dump the idea of resolving to labelling one of their top trading partners as a non-market economy for a bit of protection. If history tells, it is much wiser to continue opening up and practise free trade.  Enditem

 

China financial system “largely stable”: forex regulator

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) — China’s financial system is “largely stable” and foreign exchange reserves are “relatively abundant”, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said Saturday.

The official remarks came after the Chinese yuan, under persistent depreciation pressure, dipped to a five-year low against the U.S. dollar this week.

The SAFE said in an online statement that it will further facilitate cross-border trade and investment, and continue to promote the yuan’s convertibility under the capital account in an orderly manner.

The administration will strengthen the monitoring of China’s balance of payments, and improve the management of foreign debt and cross-border capital flows.

The SAFE will also try to better operate and manage the country’s foreign exchange reserves.  Enditem

 

China’s textile industry starts to make overseas layout in line with B&R drive

BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — China’s textile industry has entered a new development phase by making overseas layout, according to the National Textile Industry Transfer Work Conference held last Friday.

“The Belt and Road Initiative has provided an unprecedented opportunity for China’s textile industry,” said Xia Lingmin, vice president of the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), adding that China’s acceleration of overseas layout was the result of market option and efficiency priority.

“On the one hand, China’s textile enterprises have built processing bases overseas in a bid to reduce labor costs. On the other hand, some enterprises seek to establish multinational groups with global competitive edge by settling different links of the industrial chain in different countries,” explained Xia.

According to statistics released by the CNTAC, by the end of 2014, Chinese enterprises had set up over 2,600 textile manufacturing, trading and design enterprises in at least 100 countries and regions. In 2015, Chinese textile enterprises have accelerated its pace to “go out.”

China has been a big textile exporter for a long time. However, its textile industry has been dampened by the sluggish economic situation worldwide in recent years. Xia noted that “going out” was an important selection for the textile industry during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020).  Enditem

 

China’s economy likely to bottom up in 2016, economist

BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — China’s economic growth is likely to touch the bottom and recover to 6.8 percent in 2016, said Li Daokui, director at of the Center for China in the World Economy (CCWE) at Tsinghua University.

Li said at the 26th quarterly forum of the CCWE that domestic consumption in China has started to recover in the second quarter of 2015 from around 10 percent to 11.2 percent. He expected the trend will continue in 2016 and help drive up overall China’s economy.

Li estimated China’s domestic consumption grew 10.7 percent in 2015 and the growth rate would reach 11 percent in 2016.

As China’s efforts to reduce production capacity and inventory gradually take effect, real estate investment is expected to bottom up. Moreover, stabilized commodity prices and recover in major world’s economies would help stable China’s export.

China’s fixed-assets investment may stand at 10 percent in 2016, taking predictions of investment in infrastructure, manufacturing industry and real estate into consideration, said Li.  Enditem

 

 

China financial system “largely stable”: forex regulator

 

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) — China’s financial system is “largely stable” and foreign exchange reserves are “relatively abundant”, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said Saturday.

The official remarks came after the Chinese yuan, under persistent depreciation pressure, dipped to a five-year low against the U.S. dollar this week.

The SAFE said in an online statement that it will further facilitate cross-border trade and investment, and continue to promote the yuan’s convertibility under the capital account in an orderly manner.

The administration will strengthen the monitoring of China’s balance of payments, and improve the management of foreign debt and cross-border capital flows.

The SAFE will also try to better operate and manage the country’s foreign exchange reserves.  Enditem

 

 

 

 

China’s textile industry starts to make overseas layout in line with B&R drive

BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — China’s textile industry has entered a new development phase by making overseas layout, according to the National Textile Industry Transfer Work Conference held last Friday.

“The Belt and Road Initiative has provided an unprecedented opportunity for China’s textile industry,” said Xia Lingmin, vice president of the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), adding that China’s acceleration of overseas layout was the result of market option and efficiency priority.

“On the one hand, China’s textile enterprises have built processing bases overseas in a bid to reduce labor costs. On the other hand, some enterprises seek to establish multinational groups with global competitive edge by settling different links of the industrial chain in different countries,” explained Xia.

According to statistics released by the CNTAC, by the end of 2014, Chinese enterprises had set up over 2,600 textile manufacturing, trading and design enterprises in at least 100 countries and regions. In 2015, Chinese textile enterprises have accelerated its pace to “go out.”

China has been a big textile exporter for a long time. However, its textile industry has been dampened by the sluggish economic situation worldwide in recent years. Xia noted that “going out” was an important selection for the textile industry during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020).  Enditem

 

RMB rate to depend more on basket of currencies: PBOC economist

   BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — The Chinese yuan’s exchange rate will be determined with more reference to a basket of currencies, as it faces persistent depreciation pressure against the U.S. dollar, according to a senior economist with the central bank on Monday.

“Giving more consideration to a basket of currencies means the RMB’s value will be kept basically stable against the whole basket,” said Ma Jun, chief economist of the People’s Bank of China’s research bureau.

“That will be the keynote of the yuan’s exchange rate formation mechanism in the foreseeable future,” he said.

China will guide the market to form a yuan/dollar rate, so as to help stabilize the yuan’s value against the currency basket, said Ma.

“The central bank will ask market makers to consider the yuan’s stability against the currency basket when reporting their central parity quotes to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System,” he said.

The yuan’s value will be increasingly stable against the currency basket, while the yuan/dollar rate will fluctuate wider in a two-way manner, rather than in a single direction, Ma predicted.

When investors understand the basket-based exchange rate formation mechanism, short selling of the yuan will decline, according to him.

“The yuan’s exchange rate is currently not pegged to the U.S. dollar nor is it allowed to float in an unchecked way,” he said.

“We will introduce a mechanism to properly limit daily yuan/dollar rate fluctuation,” said Ma.

Giving stronger consideration to a basket of currencies will not hurt the Chinese government’s autonomy in making monetary policies, he said, adding that the yuan’s rate will not be strictly pegged to the basket.

Ma’s remarks came after the Chinese yuan, under persistent depreciation pressure, dipped to a five-year low against the greenback last week.  Enditem

 

 

China to continue to have abundant labor force: official

BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — China will have an abundant labor force for decades to come, though its overall quality needs to be improved, said a senior official with the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) on Monday.

Wang Pei’an, deputy head of the NHFPC, said at a press conference that in 2015, China had a labor force of one billion, which is expected to slip slightly to 958 million in 2030.

According to the official, the labor force is estimated at around 827 million for 2050.

Therefore, the challenge for the nation in the next few decades lies not in the size of the labor force but in its quality, said Wang.

Wang highlighted the nation’s need to allow all couples to have two children.

The new family planning law took effect on Jan. 1, ending the one-child policy that had been in place for decades.

He said the timing for the new policy is good, considering the trend of a declining labor force,  and rising demographic dependency ratio, which rose from 34.2 in 2010 to 36.2 in 2014, in addition to the population of child-bearing women, which has dropped from the peak of 380 million in 2011.  Enditem

 

 

Beijing to ease entry, residence policy for overseas talent

BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) — The Ministry of Public Security (MPS)announced on Tuesday it will ease rules for foreign talents to enter and exit Beijing, and provide favorable terms to acquire permanent residence.

The MPS will run the pilot program in Beijing’s Zhongguancun Science Park to provide convenience for foreign talents such as special offices for permanent residence examination and approval, streamlined approval procedures and more favorable conditions for foreigners with doctorate degrees or above to get a Chinese green card.

The new regulations will also allow short-term internships in Beijing for foreign students and permit them to run their own start-ups in Zhongguancun.

Foreign tech and senior management talents are also encouraged to join China’s creative companies and file application to get permanent residence, the MPS said.

The MPS said it will help the Beijing municipal government launch a “Transit Without Visa” project for certain foreign nationals to stay in Beijing for no more than 144 hours without an entry visa.

The new regulations, scheduled to take effect on March 1, are aimed at promoting Beijing’s soft environment for innovation and start-ups, the MPS said.  Enditem

 

 

China-initiated development bank to be highlighted at 2016 Davos meeting

BEIJING, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) — China-related topics, the recently launched Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in particular, will be among the major highlights of this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting to be held next week in the Swiss town of Davos.

AIIB President-designate Jin Liqun is scheduled to speak on infrastructure construction in Asia during the four-day meeting, probably his first appearance at a global forum since the official establishment of the China-initiated institution on Dec. 25, 2015.

David Aikman, chief representative officer of Greater China and managing director of the WEF, said the launch of the AIIB shows China’s increasing role in leading and innovating institutions to address the trillion-dollar infrastructure gap around the world.

“China has a lot to bring in terms of experience with the large-scale infrastructure projects and really has an opportunity to innovate,” he told Xinhua. “I think the world wants to hear and interact with those leaders.”

Aikman also said that policymakers from Latin America and Africa will be interested in coming to the forum and understanding infrastructure investment in the Asian context.

The inauguration ceremony of the AIIB, a complement to existing international financial system, is scheduled on Saturday. The bank now has 57 members and will finance infrastructure — airports, mobile phone towers, railways and roads — in Asia.

More than 2,500 participants from over 100 countries will attend the 46th WEF annual meeting, scheduled between Jan. 20 and Jan. 23. A senior delegation from the Chinese government is expected to attend the meeting.

Themed “Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” this year’s WEF annual meeting will also focus on security and other global issues.  Enditem

Traditional Chinese medicine hospitals on the increase

BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) — The number of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospitals in China has increased by 500 in five years, a rise of 15.5 percent, a TCM official said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the number of TCM outpatient departments and clinics increased by 531 and 5,890, said Wang Guoqiang, director of the State Administration of TCM at the 2016 national TCM meeting.

In 2014, there were 530 million visits to TCM hospitals, accounting for 17.9 percent of total hospital visits across the country, Wang said.

In addition, the TCM industry became a 730 billion yuan (110.8 million U.S. dollars) industry in 2014, representing one third of the total industrial output of China’s medical industry.

The import and export revenues for the TCM industry amounted to 4.63 billion U.S. dollars in 2014, according to Wang.

China has been promoting the modernization of TCM and has been pushing for TCM to be accepted and popular worldwide. Tu Youyou’s winning the Nobel Prize with a TCM-based anti-malarial drug served as a boon to the industry.  Enditem