KTC announced business direction towards the year 2011 as a financial institution brand Thai Open (Open Brand) full hope Jai Thai Sugar brand in brand value over the third floor. Collaboration, Multi Intelligence and Seeking the New Frontier open to members. Trade partners and consumers. Nationwide participation branding. Heavy activity with aggressive marketing of credit cards and personal loans. New Online Channel special Odyssey Networks Announces Lifestyle Center activities pampered member segments.

Nick Watt, chief executive of Mental Talan “KTC” or Krung Thai Card Public Company Limited (Thailand) said that “the direction of KTC’s business this year will force the system to adapt. Starting with the KTC brand refresh is the first financial institution. Declared himself as the Membership Company and Marketing Company that focuses on building the brand is known. With the ultimate goal is to become a consumer brand in the minds of Thai people all over the country by transfer of a brand through every element of the organization (Brand Elements), whether as a product. Services and personnel of the KTC under 5 value of the brand (Brand Values) to more than 14 years and this year, KTC has adjusted to the market outlook to be the Open Black Grand infrastructures are open to client groups. various suggestions and to participate with the KTC brand through various channels. So particularly special. Network and online. Members and reaching the target groups KTC “.

“The changes the concept brand new Tag line from It’s Real is” we write the stories “that we represent the KTC members and partners get together to write stories together for the KTC is known and recognized. We will work to create product. Services or marketing campaigns with various parties to meet the needs of its members to the spot by the third or Brand Value Brand value is the new “Collaboration” means cooperation between KTC customers and partners. Know and understand customer needs deeply and accurately. “Multi-Intelligence” KTC analyzed in-depth study of all sides. To see something new. In the form and benefits better. Easier for customers “Seeking for the new frontier” KTC never stops looking for new opportunities. As mentioned, the story and remember always. ”

“For the marketing of products and distribution channels of the KTC in 2011, is subject to” we write the stories “to reinforce its leadership in the consumer finance business in Thailand. In the credit card customers will focus on earnings 15,000 to 40,000 baht, which has a large base. Customers and revenue. 40,000 to 100,000 baht, which is buying a lifestyle and identity. New and expanded through Krung Thai Bank Direct Sales Alliance partners. And customer service “KTC Touch” In addition to analyzing the data to study the behavior and lifestyles of customers.

To design the program, members are spending to fit the needs. Of each customer group. While personal loans. Credits will be aggressive with the “KTC Cash Revolve” through Krung Thai Bank. Direct Sales and Sales Booth. For those who earn over 20,000 baht, and loan purpose “KTC Cash” will focus on a promotion to Customer Service “KTC Touch” tap into the income of 15,000 baht and receive a free souvenir. ”

“In the strategic distribution channels. To expand the subscriber base. Will focus on customer service “KTC Touch” Krung Thai Bank to make Booth Sales Direct Sales and Sales made by outsourcing this year will focus on sales through online channels more. So using special network as a tool to create a society with the target groups. The nature of knowledge about credit cards and personal loans. With various activities to build relationships. And expand the network to a group with an interest in this matter. ”

“KTC has focused on providing benefits. To meet the needs of its members. In the tourism services and recreational members KTC is spending in the category travel up to 9000 million in 2010, grew 12% from the year 2009, representing 8.5% of total spending including for in 2011 will focus on building strength to the “KTCWorld” Travel and tourism services. The lifestyle of customers at a special price by KTC in partnership with Business Travel in recruiting privileges liking to “KTCWorld” Everyday Travel Mart as customers think of when they travel. The available information. Transactions online purchase air tickets. Hotels through convenient customer service groups and KTCWorld Call Center / KTC Touch and Website KTCWorld also will continue to create online community. A channel for the loving people here “KTC World Community”, as well as creating innovative marketing activities. And support new partners in the tourism industry as a work trip to Thailand World contest on the 8th and a small boutique hotel. And lifestyle workshops.

“In addition, KTC held the privilege of offering insurance Both physical health and health care financing, personal loans and credit card members through various KTC. The premium can be paid via credit card or use the points. Including consulting, planning to save money and buy all types of insurance. And group members who dare premium costs. Are of one’s own We will work with many leading business partner. Special event for pampered this group trips, such as a foreign Unseen (Unseen), and home decor using Applied Arts etc. “.

“KTC has also invested in IT systems and networks. Likely to meet the needs of group members and young people access to products and services. As well as to interact with the KTC brand through all communication channels quickly and easily, and soon to be announced KTC “lifestyle center” at the edge. With modern technology equipment. The alliance partners will invite current activities as diverse lifestyle to members of a KTC than 2.2 million accounts throughout the country as well. “

The bank in Ankara kept its one-week repo lending rate at a record low of 6.25 percent, according to an e-mailed statement today. Six of seven economists surveyed by Bloomberg this week had predicted no change. The bank will release minutes of the meeting within eight working days.

Governor Durmus Yilmaz unexpectedly lowered the rate in December and January, seeking to deter short-term capital inflows and weaken the lira. He said the easing would be more than offset by higher reserve requirements for banks that will slow lending. The central bank said its tracking the impact of the reserves increases, according to today’s statement.

The bank is “hoping to get some data on the effectiveness of its policy mix in the coming weeks,” Yarkin Cebeci, an economist for JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Istanbul, said in an e- mailed report before the announcement. While the bank has been successful in deterring capital inflows, “regarding the second policy target restraining loan growth there is more uncertainty.”

The jobless rate fell to 11 percent in November, the statistics agency said today. That was the lowest rate for the period since the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers. The current- account deficit in the same month was $7.5 billion, the widest in more than 25 years, as a growing economy pulls in consumer goods and raw materials.

Domestic Demand
The economy probably grew 8 percent last year, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said Feb. 10 in Abu Dhabi. The growth is “not balanced” because it’s based on strong domestic demand, Yilmaz told investors in London on Feb. 7.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking re-election and says his priority for his third term in office would be drafting a new constitution.

The central bank‘s new policy aims to restrain domestic demand by forcing banks to set aside more reserves against lending. The central bank made increases on Jan. 17 of as much as 4 percentage points to the reserves banks must set aside against short-term liabilities, hindering lending. Those changes won’t take full effect until Feb. 18, three days after the rates meeting.

Consumer Loans
Outstanding consumer loans excluding credit cards were 128 billion liras ($80 billion) in the week ending Feb. 2, about 38 percent higher than a year earlier, according to central bank data. The government thinks loan growth of between 20 percent and 25 percent would be better, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said in December.

Net income last year at Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS, the biggest single provider of consumer lending, according to the country’s bank association, rose 6.2 percent to 3.15 billion liras, the company said Feb. 10.

Inflation slowed to a four-decade low of 4.9 percent in January. The bank said it expects it to slow again this month before accelerating, partly because the weaker lira increases the price of imported gas and oil.

OBC has revised its base rate upwards by 50 basis points to 9.50% and BPLR by 50 basis points to 13.75%. Dena Bank, IOB and Indian Bank have hiked their base rates by 50 basis points.

Nupur Mitra, ED, IOB said, “The demand for credit is unlikely to be impacted by higher rates and we will be taking a call on whether to hike the BPLR, which is currently at 13.5%. However, our margins are likely to suffer as a result and could drop to 3% from 3.27%.” With the latest round of loan rate hikes, the base rates of almost all banks are now above 9%. When the base rate was first introduced in July last year, most banks had announced a rate of around 8%. HDFC Home Loan

“This is line with the interest rates in the economy, which have hardened due to an increase in policy rates, inflation and liquidity in the domestic market,” HDFC said in a release. HDFC has increased its retail prime lending rate (RPLR) to which its Adjustable rate home loans (ARHL) is benchmarked, by 25 basis points. The RPLR for loans up to Rs 30 lakh will be 9.75%, for loans between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 75 lakh will be 10% and for loans above that it will be 10.5%.

Meanwhile, Bank of Baroda has realigned deposit rates reducing them for some buckets while increasing them for others.

On Monday, Punjab National Bank had upped both its base rate and benchmark prime lending rate by 50 basis points each to 9.5%and 13% respectively.

It was the first bank to hike loan rates after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked key policy rates by 25 basis points each on January 25, 2011, during its review of the monetary policy.

Said KR Kamath, CMD, PNB, ” We believe that credit offtake will not be impacted by the increase in the loan rates. We have increased deposit rates because we need to sustain both the growth in deposit, currently at 20% and maintain credit growth at 25%.”

Kamath added that the hike was taken in response to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) wishes that credit and deposit growth be aligned.

Allahabad Bank increased its BPLR by 25 basis points to 13.50% and its base rate by 50 basis point to 9.50%. United Bank of India(UBI) too upped its base rate by 50 basis points to 9.45% and BPLR by 50 bps to 13.50%.

With wholesale inflation ruling at 8.5% for the better part of 2010, the central bank increased policy rates six times between March and December 2010.

Banks followed suit increasing both loan and deposit rates with some lenders such as ICICI Bank upping rates twice in the span of a month. The latest hike by banks was on December 31, 2010, when five banks including State Bank of India (SBI) upped loan rates. While SBI raised its base rate by 40 basis points to 8%, ICICI Bank hiked its base rate and benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) by 50 basis points to 8.25% and 25 basis points to 17%, respectively.

The Monetary Policy Committee left the key lending rate at a record low of 6 percent, the Nairobi-based Central Bank of Kenya said in an e-mailed statement today. The decision was expected by all four economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

“Previous cuts haven’t had much effect in bringing down base rates at commercial banks,” James Mose, a research analyst with CFC Stanbic Financial Services Ltd., said in an interview from Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. “So we didn’t expect another cut today.”

Kenya’s central bank has reduced rates by 2.5 percentage points since March 2009 as it sought to encourage commercial lenders to increase loans and help the economy recover from the global crisis. Bank lending, led by demand from Kenyan households, advanced 6 percent to 878.8 billion shillings ($11 billion) in the third quarter, according to the central bank.

Growth in East Africa’s biggest economy accelerated to an annual 5.4 percent in the second quarter from 4.8 percent in the previous three-month period, after rain ended a drought and boosted farming output and hydropower generation.

The economy may grow 6 percent in 2011, compared with an estimated 5 percent this year and 2.6 percent in 2009, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said last month.

Ratings Upgrade

Kenya’s improved economic outlook was one of the reasons that Standard & Poor’s cited for raising its sovereign rating for the country by one step to B+, four levels below investment grade, on Nov. 19.

There is “increased confidence in the economy,” led by growth in agriculture, construction, manufacturing and finance, the central bank said today.

Kenyan lenders have failed to match previous reductions in the key lending rate. Bank’s average lending rate was 14 percent in September, down from 14.2 percent a month earlier, according to central bank statistics. Banks have scope to reduce the cost of borrowing further after deposits grew, Central Bank Governor Njuguna Ndung’u said last month.

Interest charges fell the most at mid-sized banks, where maturity lengths increased, and many lenders “continue to operate in an environment of high returns not commensurate with risk,” the central bank said today.

Higher Profits

Equity Bank Ltd., Kenya’s biggest by market value, last month reported a 52 percent increase in nine-month profit driven by higher interest income from loans. Barclays Bank of Kenya Ltd., the second-largest lender, reported on Nov. 19 that net income between January and September surged 20 percent.

Growth in lending hasn’t triggered inflation, which remained below the government’s target of 5 percent over the past eight months.

The government’s borrowing program is not expected to put pressure on interest rates, while inflation is at an “appropriate” level, the central bank said today.

Two state-run lenders, Allahabad Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank on Monday hiked their lending rates by up to half a percentage point, becoming the first banks to up their rates after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) increased policy rates last week.

Kolkata-based Allahabad Bank hiked its base rate by 0.5% to 9.5% and benchmark prime lending rate or BPLR by 0.25% to 13.5% respectively, from Tuesday.

Base rate is the new benchmark rate below which banks cannot lend. It replaced BPLR from 1 July.

“The hike in our interest rates is in line with the policy of our asset liability committee,” M. R. Nayak, executive director of Allahabad Bank said.

The bank has also hiked the interest rate for its 400-days deposit by 0.5% to 8.5%.

Punjab & Sind Bank said it plans to raise benchmark prime lending rate and base rate to 14.25% and 9.5%, respectively, effective 1 February.

To tame inflation, the RBI has hiked its short term lending borrowing rates (repo and reverse repo) by 0.25% on 25 January at the third quarter review of its annual monetary policy. One basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point.

This is the seventh time the central bank is increasing its policy rates this fiscal. To pass on the hike in RBI key rates, most of the banks had hiked their lending rates by around 0.5% and deposit rates by at least 1% over the past few months.

Authorities of Chongqing and Shanghai municipalities announced Friday they would kick off the long-awaited trial property taxation, starting from Jan. 28, amid the latest measures to cool off the red-hot housing market.

This came on the heels of another round of tightening measures China’s cabinet unveiled Wednesday, including higher down payment, home purchasing restrictions in more cities, and annual price control targets for newly-built homes.

China’s real estate market remains overheated, even after a slew of tightening measures last year, including higher down payments, higher lending rates for second-home buyers and two hikes in the benchmark lending rates.

Chongqing will tax all villas as well as new apartments priced at least two times the average price of all newly-built homes in the southwestern city, said Chongqing mayor Huang Qifan.

The annual tax rates are 0.5 percent of the transaction prices for villas and apartments priced less than three times the average price, 1 percent for those priced three to four times the average and 1.2 percent for those priced more than four times the average, Huang said.

For a family, the first 180 square meters for villas and first 100 square meters for high-end apartments are exempted from tax, he told a press briefing.

For non-permanent residents who don’t work and run companies in Chongqing, their second homes will be taxed at 0.5 percent regardless of the prices, he said.

The city may use the home evaluation prices as the tax bases in three to five years, Huang said.

The newly-bought second and second-plus homes of permanent residents in Shanghai will be taxed if the average floor area per family member of all homes, including the existing ones, is more than 60 square meters, the Shanghai Municipal government said in a statement.

Each family member will have 60 square meters exempted from tax, it said.

All new homes bought by non-permanent residents will be taxed, but the buyers can get all tax returned for their first new homes after they work in Shanghai for three years.

The tax rates are 0.6 percent for housing priced more than two times the average prices and 0.4 percent for those priced less.

The tax bases are 70 percent of the transaction prices now in the initial period and will later be the home evaluation prices, according to the statement.

The levy is designed to help regulate income distribution and promote social equality, and guide reasonable housing consumption for land saving and intensive use, the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said in a statement Thursday.

The tax is certain to help stabilize home prices in pilot cities by curbing speculation over the short term, said Yin Bocheng, director of the real estate research center at Fudan University.

A speculator surnamed Shen from the northeastern province of Heilongjiang said she will have to give up buying new homes in Chongqing, with bigger risks following tougher tightening measures and launch of property tax.

“The market prospect becomes uncertain,” she said.

In response to the newly-announced tightening measures and the widely-anticipated property tax, the property shares on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses plunged 1.6 percent Thursday, compared with a 1.5 percent gain for the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index.

Many, however, believed the tax would not lead to sharp falls in home prices. Ren Zhiqiang, president of property developer Huayuan Group, said home prices are determined more by supply and demand, but demand in some major cities would not be met for another 10 years.

Also, Li Wei, chairman of Chongqing Doorlead Real Estate Co., said the tax levy on high-end homes in Chongqing would have limited impact on the whole housing market.

The tax is trivial compared with the accelerating urbanization, land supply and monetary policy, Li said. “It will have more of a psychological impact on the market. The massive low-cost housing construction will have a much larger impact, as it greatly boosts the supply.”

Chongqing authorities have announced plans to build 40 million square meters of low-cost housing for rent in the years leading up to 2012 for 2 million low and middle-income residents.

All property tax revenue will be used for building low-cost housing, Huang said. But the tax levy is more nominal than substantial, he said.

Chongqing will collect 150 million yuan (22.8 million U.S. dollars) in property tax revenues this year, but the investment in low-cost housing amounted to 100 billion yuan, he said.

An Tifu, professor at Renmin University of China, however, believed the tax will eventually help to reduce local governments’ reliance on land sales for revenues, which is widely blamed for their unwillingness to rein in rapid rises in housing prices.

Soaring prices are a major concern for urban Chinese with increasingly more finding homes unaffordable. Home prices in some major cities, such as Beijing, have more than doubled over the past two years due to easy credit and low lending rates.

The central bank also raised its economic growth forecast for fiscal 2010 to 3.3 percent, following a two-day policy board meeting ending today.

Policy makers predicted an expansion of 3.3 percent in the year ending March 31 compared with the 2.1 percent estimated in October, the central bank said in a statement today in Tokyo.

The positive view by the BOJ matched the government’s forecast for a 3.1 percent expansion. The government predicted growth would accelerate as overseas demand for Japanese products increased.

The central bank decided to maintain the size of its asset purchase fund and the cheap credit program, which were kept unchanged at 5 trillion yen (60.52 billion U.S. dollars) and 30 trillion yen (363.15 billion U.S. dollars) respectively.

BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa and his policy board also predict that consumer prices will decrease 0.3 percent this fiscal year compared with their initial forecast for a 0.4 percent decline three months earlier.

The BOJ predicts inflation will pick up to 0.3 percent the following year, higher than its October prediction of 0.1 percent.

“The recovery trend of the Japanese economy is becoming increasingly evident,” Seiji Shiraishi, chief economist at HSBC Securities in Tokyo. “I think there is still about a 30 percent chance for another policy easing around March if the yen strengthens and political pressure remains,” he said.

The lending rates on one state-run bank’s loans to borrowers in industries that are highly polluting or which have overcapacity are 45% higher than the country’s benchmark lending rate, while its property loans are at least 10% higher, the newspaper reported.

Another commercial bank has raised interest rates on loans to small- and medium-sized companies by around 40%, but demand for credit remains strong, the newspaper reported.

Banks usually offer lower loan rates than the country’s benchmark lending rates to attract corporate customers, but they are now seeking to curb lending because they have almost used up the loan quotas for January set by senior management. Chinese banks often frontload lending at the start of each year to maintain or expand their share of the country’s credit market.

This year’s new yuan loans totaled CNY1.2 trillion ($182 billion) as of Monday, the China Business News reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed source. New yuan loans totaled CNY1.4 trillion in January 2010.

The China Securities Journal reported last week, citing unnamed sources, that China plans to cut new yuan lending by as much as 10% this year, and has ordered banks to limit their new yuan lending in January to 12% of the full-year target of between CNY7.2 trillion and CNY7.5 trillion.

Banks in China extended CNY17.55 trillion worth of loans in the past two years to support the government’s economic stimulus efforts.

China’s central bank has yet to announce an official lending target for this year, but it has used various monetary tools to tame credit growth and high inflation.

The central bank raised banks’ reserve requirement ratio by half a percentage point last week, its seventh hike since the start of last year. Individual banks that exceed the country’s official lending target are also subject to penalties, such as an increase in their reserve requirement ratio or compulsory purchases of central bank bills.

(Adds details about January’s new loans and PBOC’s reportedly lending target.)

The benchmark money-market rate reached a three-year high after the central bank drained cash from the banking system to cool economic growth. The renminbi climbed 0.57 percent in the past five days, a fifth weekly gain, and reached the strongest level since China unified official and market exchange rates at the end of 1993. The yuan will continue to appreciate, advancing 6 percent next year, said David Cohen, an economist at Action Economics Ltd. in Singapore.

Policy makers “recognize the usefulness of a stronger currency in curbing inflation,” said Cohen. “The yuan, like other Asian currencies, has very strong fundamentals and the country has a very large current-account surplus.”

The yuan climbed 0.17 percent to 6.5897 per dollar as of 4:30 p.m. in Shanghai, earlier touching a high of 6.5896, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. Twelve- month non-deliverable forwards were little changed at 6.4608, reflecting bets the currency will gain 2 percent in a year.

The People’s Bank of China set the reference rate higher for the ninth day, at 6.6227 per dollar today compared with 6.6229 yesterday. The yuan is allowed to trade by up to 0.5 percent either side of the so-called central parity rate. The U.S. Dollar Index, a gauge of the greenback’s strength, retreated for the seventh day.

Hu’s Visit
The main appreciation of the yuan will likely happen in the first quarter, with Hu Jintao’s state visit to Washington next month, said Craig Chan, an Asia foreign-exchange strategist at Nomura Singapore Ltd. on Dec. 16. The House of Representatives passed legislation in September letting U.S. companies petition for duties on Chinese imports to compensate for the effect of a weak yuan.

The renminbi will be the top performer among the so-called BRIC nations currencies in the coming year, according to analyst surveys by Bloomberg. China’s currency will strengthen 4.9 percent to 6.28 by the end of 2011, according to the median estimate of 19 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. That’s over double the 2 percent gain projected by 12-month non-deliverable forwards.

Analysts predict Brazil’s real will weaken 2.4 percent, Russia’s ruble will appreciate 0.6 percent and India’s rupee will rise 3.7 percent.

Offshore yuan forwards rose 0.34 percent to 6.5800 per dollar in Hong Kong. Twelve-month deliverable forwards in the city were at 6.5760 today, compared with 6.5725 yesterday.

Zhou Pledge
China’s consumer prices climbed 5.1 percent from a year earlier in November, the biggest gain in 28 months, the statistics bureau said on Dec. 11. The yuan is a denomination of China’s currency, the renminbi.

Central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan pledged in his New Year message to tackle inflation, saying the nation had consolidated its recovery in 2010. Zhou reaffirmed a shift to a “prudent” monetary policy in 2011 from the “moderately loose” stance that countered the financial crisis.

The seven-day repurchase rate, which measures lending costs between banks, advanced seven basis points to 6.34 percent, the highest level since October 2007, according to a daily fixing published at 11 a.m. by the National Interbank Funding Center.

The yield on the 3.67 percent government bond due October 2020 was unchanged at 3.88 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. One-year interest-rate swaps, or the fixed cost needed to receive the floating seven-day repurchase rate, slipped four basis points to 3.17 percent.

Lenders are holding onto funds after policy makers raised banks reserve requirements for the third time in five weeks to curb inflation. The central bank on Dec. 25 also lifted the benchmark lending and deposit rates by 25 basis points, the second increase this quarter.

Policy makers are likely to boost lending and deposit rates by about 2 percentage points more next year, said Tao Dong, chief economist for Asia excluding Japan at Credit Suisse Group AG. in Hong Kong Dec. 22.

The Chinese economy has been awash in liquidity due to government stimulus money and generous lending by state banks. Chinese officials are now concerned about an overheated economy and the inflationary pressures that come with that.

The fact that China’s economy has remained robust during the global recession gives Chinese officials leeway to rein in liquidity. The country has been growing at an average of 10 percent a year, and the strength of the export industry remains high despite a dip in late 2008, when the financial crisis first roiled the United States and then other parts of the world.

But investment in large capital-intensive projects has also been fueling the economic engine and driving up prices.

Analysts have been saying for months that they expect China to raise interest rates throughout 2011.

Earlier this month, the government reported that the consumer price index rose 5.1 percent in November, compared with the same period a year ago. It was the largest increase in three years. Since the spring, the year-on-year increase in the index has been above 3 percent, despite the government’s desire to keep the average increase below 3 percent for the entire year.

Chinese leaders are aware of the political dangers of high inflation. Xinhua, the state news agency, reported on Dec. 17 that Li Keqiang, the vice premier, said at a conference of government officials that “more efforts should be provided to stabilize prices next year.” He added that over the next five years, growth rates should be defined “reasonably.” Mr. Li is expected to take over as prime minister in 2012 from Wen Jiabao, who now oversees the economy.

Officials have signaled throughout the month that moves will be taken to better control spending across the country. China announced on Dec. 3 that it would tighten monetary policy next year, shifting it from “relatively loose to prudent.” That was a clear sign that Chinese officials were intensely concerned about inflation.

On Dec. 15, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a prominent research organization based in Beijing, reported that high inflation and housing prices had contributed to a deepening sense of popular disaffection. The findings of the report were based on a survey of 4,143 people.

Commodity prices were the main concern of urban residents, followed by health care and housing prices, according to the findings, which were reported by Xinhua. Rural residents in this year’s survey said health care was their top concern, followed by commodity prices.

Job satisfaction among those surveyed was at its lowest in four years, according to the academy.

Also on Dec. 15, the central bank said that satisfaction among people with the current level of prices had dropped to an 11-year low. The bank’s findings were based on a survey of 20,000 people during the fourth quarter in 50 cities across China.

The real estate market is another concern. The property market in China has been booming. Rising property prices, along with the government stimulus money and loose bank lending, have spurred new developments across the country. Even long-term residents on the tropical southern island of Hainan have had to grapple with soaring real estate prices from outsiders coming in to buy up land.

Some analysts say this growth has resulted in a gargantuan bubble in the real estate market, while others argue that the capacity will be put to good use.

A record $560 billion of residential property was sold in 2009, an increase of 80 percent over 2008, according to government statistics.

In October, the government increased its benchmark lending rate, in what appeared to be an effort to tamp down real estate speculation.

Until now, low wages have helped to hold down inflation and keep China’s export industry competitive. But those wages in the context of soaring real estate prices mean that migrant workers from the interior of China are becoming less tolerant of poor work conditions on the coasts, where many of China’s export manufacturing factories are located. Many workers are now choosing to stay closer to home in the interior provinces, and some companies are moving their manufacturing centers inland.