Nation moves to help steady local finance THE Central Government has earmarked 400 billion yuan (US$62.9 billion) of transfer payments to help local governments handle pressure from tax refunds, an official said Wednesday. The advance allocation was made days before April 1, the scheduled date for the country to begin increasing the scale of value-added tax (VAT) credit refunds to bolster small businesses, Vice Minister of Finance Xu Hongcai told a press conference. Tencent revenue rises 16%, below estimate THE annual revenue of Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent rose 16% to 560.1 billion yuan (US$88 billion) in 2021, below market estimates of 566.3 billion yuan as the company’s chairman calls 2021 a “challenging year.” Tencent’s revenue grew at 8% in the fourth quarter, the slowest since it went public in 2004. “We embraced changes and implemented certain measures that reinforced Tencent’s long-term sustainability, but had the effect of slowing our revenue growth,” the company’s chairman Pony Ma said. More cargo trains to ensure energy supply WITH a new train diagram to be put into operation from April 8, China will launch additional cargo trains to boost coal transport amid the country’s efforts to ensure energy supply. According to the diagram, new cargo trains will be added to transport coal from the coal-rich Shanxi Province to the eastern regions, said the China State Railway Group Co. The adjustment will further enhance the country’s thermal coal transport capacity and provide stronger support for the national economy, it said. Bank ups loan support for carbon sink capacity CHINA Development Bank, a primary policy banks, has stepped up its loan issuance to help promote carbon sink capacity in the forestry sector amid the country’s push for green development. Loans worth about 114.1 billion yuan have been issued over the past five years, promoting key ecological areas such as the national reserve forest construction and forest quality improvements, the bank said. Huawei establishes ICT academy in Bangladesh TELECOM giant Huawei has established an academy in Bangladesh to equip young learners with industry-fit skills and develop an information and communications technology (ICT) talent ecosystem. Huawei said it has more than 1,500 such ICT academies in over 90 countries around the world. | 