Sunday Papers: Chinese export surge fuels trade surplus - other news

The Sunday Telegraph

* The 43.9pc increase in exports left China with a $20bn trade surplus.

* OBR chairman Sir Alan Budd is to lay out a blueprint to make the watchdog more independent; the three areas for improvement will be - a strengthened role for Parliament on the appointment of the members of the Budgetary Responsibility Committee, a plan to move OBR staff out of the Treasury building and to have its own staff taking up the vital forecasting role within the organisation.

* The HSBC's chairman, Stephen Green, has revealed serious concerns about the future strength of the economically vital banking sector which is under threat from a wave of new regulations.

* RBS chief, Stephen Hester, is to say that the publicly-owned bank is putting being "socially useful" at the heart of its operations, in a direct riposte to Lord Adair Turner's claim that much of the financial sector engaged in activity that was "socially useless".

* George Osborne is to demand that one of the three new "super-regulators" planned by the European Union is based in London, after the European Parliament said that all three should be in Frankfurt.

* American and British business groups will meet this week to discuss concerns that the BP oil spill has sparked a wave of US protectionism that has restricted British firms from winning government contracts, making political donations and lobbying.

* A break-up of the eurozone would be positive for growth in the region and not the disaster that many think, a report by Capital Economics released this weekend said.

* Britain can increase its growth rate and add an extra £120bn to the economy in the next 10 years by raising the retirement age and making it easier to start a business, according to a report by the Centre for Policy Studies.

The Observer

* Tighter banking rules will drain £1tn from financial system, study shows; banks are drawing on research conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers which shows two percentage points would be sliced off economic growth.

The Independent on Sunday