Month: July 2013

China Predicts Slow Economic Growth

Four months ago, China set an official target of 7.5% for the country’s economic growth. Now, the finance minister has just announced that he expects the economy to grow 7% this year. Certainly, this is raising the ire of many and putting China’s financial stability into question.

Not only was the official announcement of the intended 7.5% growth mad during a Communist Party parliamentary meeting in March, but the target goal is usually offered with a conservative number so that the country may actually exceed that prediction.

China’s economy saw a 7.8% growth in 2012, which was actually the worst they had done in 14 years. The first quarter growth for this year has slowed to 7.7%.

As Lou Jiwei recently told reporters during a strategic and economic dialogue between China and the US last week, “Our expected GDP growth rate this year is seven per cent. Of course, it won’t be a big problem for us if we achieve growth of seven per cent or 6.5 per cent.”

Kathleen Tan Honored with Most Influential Industry Person Award

The China Finance Summit 2013 just awarded the AAE Travel Chief Executive Officer Kathleen Tan the “Most Influential Industry Person” Award. She was the first foreigner ever to be honored with the award.

The China Finance Summit 2013 awards enterprises and corporations in a number of industries with recognition for the efforts that they make in economic development and environment. There were 600 attendees at the summit, including government leaders, NGO leaders, media, industry experts and more.

Kathleen is the CEO of AAE Travel, a combined effort of AirAsia and Expedia, which is the world’s largest online travel company. She is in charge of their businesses in Southeast Asia, India, china, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

As the China Finance Summit 2013 said, “During the past eight years, Kathleen’s strategic vision, boldness, and leadership have grown AirAsia’s revenue twenty-fold to over RM 10 Billion (US$ 3.5 Billion) in 2012. Her self-motivation and passion for the work won respect and trust from many partners in China.”

As Tony Fernandes said, “Kathleen deserves this award and I am incredibly proud of her. Clearly, her commitment, energy, leadership and engaging personality have endeared her to China. She’s so passionate about the business it has won her many fans throughout the industry. Amongst them are high-ranking government officials and respected leaders from the aviation, business and media world.”

In her acceptance speech, Kathleen said, “When I took on the big mission to change China, I never dreamt that I would someday win an award for my work. I am truly humbled and honoured by this award, it is such a sweet moment for me. This award is dedicated to everyone who has supported me especially my team in China. I’d also like to share this award with my 200,000 Weibo fans and last but not least, Tony, for believing in me. I hope this will inspire more women and enterprising young individuals in China to step up, work hard and keep believing. One day, your efforts will pay off.”