SEOUL -- South Korean banks' household loan fell last month due to the repayment of borrowing for stock investment, central bank data showed Thursday.

Debts, owed by households to banks, totaled 1,024.1 trillion won (918.6 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of May, down 1.6 trillion won (1.4 billion U.S. dollars) from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

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HONG KONG -- Hong Kong and Shanghai can explore new opportunities and establish new cooperation under the 14th Five-Year Plan for national economic and social development, experts said Wednesday at a forum.

When speaking at the video conference, Leung Chun-ying, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and chief convener of the Hong Kong Coalition, said the two cities have different systems and are complementary to each other.

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BEIJING -- China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo talked over phone Thursday and exchanged views on relative issues and concerns in a frank and practical way.

During the talks at the invitation of the U.S. side, Wang and Raimondo stressed the importance of dialogue and communication between China and the United States in the business field, and agreed to promote the healthy development of pragmatic cooperation on trade and investment while properly handle differences.

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WASHINGTON -- The Chinese economy is on track to grow by 8.5 percent in 2021, up 0.6 percentage point from a previous projection, the World Bank Group said in its latest Global Economic Prospects released on Tuesday.

China's ability to contain the pandemic pretty quickly, its significant policy support, as well as the recent pickup in global trade, help support China's strong recovery, World Bank Prospects Group Director Ayhan Kose told reporters at a press call Tuesday morning.