Current events summary 3/6/08

The snow storms in February cost the economy more than $15 billion from damage, according to the Chinese government, and they were expecting MORE snow half way thru the month, but apparently it didn't really come. Public transportation is recovering after the huge storms and this improvement should give the economy a boost.
The storms also raised rising price pressures even higher, and inflation is continuing despite higher interest rates and other attempts to keep the economy from overheating. Chinese inflation hit an an 11-year high in January after the snow storms, and is still very high. As the economy boomed in January, China's trade surplus soared 22.7% and the imports and exports increased dramatically (since past months/years). Premier Wen Jiabao has said tackling inflation is one of China's major tasks for this year. We will see how effective their task-tackling is...
China says it plans to increase military spending this year by nearly 18%. If this really happens, not only will it make other countries (i.e. the US) very nervous but will take money away from other parts of China and its economy that need it. Some Chinese spokesmen say the increased military spendings will be spent on increasing salaries and accommodating higher oil prices, but who knows what tehy're REALLY planning???