The cumulative rise in the scale of China's non-governmental financing of CNY19.3 trillion (USD2.8 trillion) last year marked a decrease of CNY3.14 trillion from that of 2017, while the scale of overall private funding reached CNY200 trillion with annual 9.8 percent growth, figures released by the nation's central bank the People's Bank of China show. 

The growth rate thus hit a historic low since January 2017. Loans in Chinese yuan rose CNY16.2 trillion in all of last year, growing 2.64 trillion over 2017. The increase is three times larger that of the same period in the year earlier.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May gives a speech on the 'Brexit deal' in London on Jan. 15. The lower house of the country's parliament spurned the agreement the British government struck with the EU on Jan. 15. The House of Commons scotched the deal by 432 votes against and 202 votes in favor on Jan. 15 after a five-day debate.

On Jan. 17, many museums on the US National Mall in Washington, DC have been mothballed by the US national government shutdown, with some federal agencies closed for 27 days in the longest stoppage in American history, which has severely impacted Americans' lives and the US economy.

Ren Zhengfei, Huawei's founder and chief executive, is interviewed at the company's headquarters on Jan. 15.

Approved by China's cabinet the State Council, the total credit of Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors rose to USD300 billion from USD150 billion to satisfy overseas investors' demands to up their investment in China's capital markets, China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange announced. The compound annualized rate of return for QFII in China's A-share market was 22.11 percent from 2005 to last year, per the statistics.

China's stock market was in a generally rising but volatile trend last week, logging clear increases on Jan. 15 and Jan. 18, with a conspicuous growth in trading volume above all on the second day. Blue chips led by Kweichow Moutai, Midea Group and Ping An Insurance performed relatively well last week. Since the Chinese market's valuation is at a historic low, while European and US stock markets are obviously high, foreign funds have flooded into the Chinese market.

Work on the Colombo Port City Project jointly undertaken by China Communications Construction Company and the Sri Lankan government concluded on Jan. 16.

Folk artists perform 'Fire Dragons and Steel Flowers' in the old town of Tai'erzhuang in Zaozhuang in China's eastern Shandong province on Jan. 13 to welcome the upcoming 'Year of the Pig' in the Chinese Lunar Calendar's 12-year zodiac cycle.

Editor: Ben Armour