The 5th Qingdao Multinationals Summit opened in Qingdao City of east China's Shandong Province on Wednesday, continuing its established "Multinational Corporations and China" theme.
The summit gathered more than 550 representatives, 18 of them are global CEOs, the most ever.
Most of the attending CEOs are from the sectors of information technology, biomedicine, new energy, and high-end equipment. Twenty percent of the foreign representatives are attending the summit for the first time.
A series of research reports, including "Multinationals in China: Sharing New Opportunities of Chinese Modernization", were released at the summit.
Since its inception in 2019, the Qingdao Multinationals Summit has served as an important platform for dialogue, exchange and practical cooperation between China and multinational corporations.
For 12 consecutive years, Qingdao has ranked among the most attractive Chinese cities for foreign talents. And over the past four summits, the city secured 49 projects with multinational corporations, totaling 9.85 billion U.S. dollars in investment.
5th Qingdao Multinationals Summit opens
The onshore Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened to below 7.10 against the U.S. dollar in August.
In August, the weighted average rate on new corporate loans registered around 3.6 percent, a decline of over 0.2 percentage points from an already relatively low benchmark in 2023.
This indicates that China has continued to lower the overall financing costs and is encouraging financial institutions to pass on profits to the real economy.
The RMB exchange rate has seen an appreciation. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, has retreated from its peak since August, decreasing from above 104 to below 101, marking a new low in over a year with a decline of about 3 percent.
The onshore RMB exchange rate against the U.S. dollar has strengthened from a high point of 7.27 yuan in mid-July to below 7.10 yuan, a cumulative appreciation of 2 percent.
Cross-border funds continued to flow into the Chinese domestic market, maintaining a net increase trend. In August, overseas investors increased their net holdings of domestic bonds by approximately 17 billion U.S. dollars, marking the 12th consecutive month of net inflows.
Onshore Chinese yuan strengthens against USD in Aug
