Chinese economic growth continues to beat all records: Last Thursday the spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Xi Xiachao, said that the expansion of the Chinese economy has been continuing with an 11.5% rise in gross national product since the beginning of the year. He did say, however, that “growth is still a little fast” and he continued “the rise in prices is still strong, combined with pressure for energy savings and a firm demand for a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions”. Continued economic growth is a goal of the Chinese leaders and last week President Hu Jintao pointed out that the aim of his government was to quadruple GDP per capita by 2020 (compared to figures for 2000). In the third quarter, this was still increasing by 11.5%, slightly under the second quarter figures (+11.9%). Figures published by the NBS, nevertheless, reveal imbalances in an economy based on exports and investment in which industrial production appears to have slowed down in August (+17.5%) but which speeded up further in September (+18.9%) to settle at a rate of 18.5% in a year (based on figures from the first nine months of the year). This industrial production is fuelled by exports and is continually rising. It means that over a period of nine months China has already obtained a trade surplus of $185.65bn, higher than the 2006 record ($177.47bn). Another essential component in growth is fixed capital investment, which rose in annual terms by 25.7% between January and September, fractionally below the first quarter level (25.9%). In an effort to put the brakes on the dangers of runaway growth, the Chinese government announced that it intended to “put the brakes on too rapid growth in fixed capital investment and the loans financing them”, an objective that will only limit damages, according to the analysts. If the Chinese economy continues its growth at the same rhythm, these analysts say it will soon gain third place in the world ratings behind the US and Japan, and overtake the German economy. The biggest bank in China, the ICBC announced that it was going to take over 20% of its South African counterpart, STANDARD BANK, for $5.6bn. The two banks will be setting up a $1bn fund to invest in the resources of the African continent, which are much coveted by Chinese enterprises. STANDARD BANK, Africa's leading bank (in terms of assets), obtained net results of around 8.6 billion rand, with a stock market capitalisation that rose to 157 billion rand on 25/10/2007, with 713 agencies in South Africa and 240 in the rest of the world. It has a workforce of 46,261.