Briefly

R&D spending increases in 2019

China's spending on research and development hit a high of 2.23 percent of its GDP in 2019, up by 0.09 percentage point from the previous year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Thursday. China's total expenditure on R&D amounted to 2.214 trillion yuan ($321.3 billion) last year, up 12.5 percent compared with that in 2018, according to a report jointly released by the NBS, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance.

Construction of gas chemical unit starts

Amur gas chemical complex, an integrated polyethylene and polypropylene production project jointly developed by China Petroleum and Chemical Corp and Russian petrochemical company Sibur, kicked off construction on Thursday. The plant is the largest chemical cooperation project between China and Russia, and is expected to start operation in 2025, with most of its products bound for the Chinese market.

ZhongAn net profit up 418.8% in first half

ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance Co Ltd, the country's first internet-based insurance firm, saw its net profit contributable to the parent company surge 418.8 percent on a yearly basis to 490 million yuan ($70.3 million) during the first six months of the year, its interim financial statement showed. Health insurance premium income, a core business, stood at 3 billion yuan, up 115 percent year-on-year in the first six months. Income from health insurance premiums accounted for 45.1 percent of the total business portfolio.

Xinhua - China Daily