Category: Economy

China would maintain steady and dynamic economic growth in 2014 on the back of its ongoing reforms, economists said at a forum here Monday. The forum was co-organized by the New York-based National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and China Center for Economic Research (CCER) with Peking University (PKU). CCEr economist Lu Feng said China was likely to maintain steady growth of 7.5 percent to 8 percent in real terms in 2014. He said three factors would affect China’s macro-economic performance during the year: the impacts of the external environment, its fight against pollution and its prudent macro-economic policy. "China’s exports are estimated to pick up modestly in 2014 from the preceding year, possibly reaching double-digit growth," Lu told Xinhua at a press conference, citing an expected improvement in the global economy, which would benefit Chinese export sectors. Lu also highlighted China’s macro-economic policy, […]

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China would maintain steady and dynamic economic growth in 2014 on the back of its ongoing reforms, economists said at a forum here Monday. The forum was co-organized by the New York-based National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and China Center for Economic Research (CCER) with Peking University (PKU). CCEr economist Lu Feng said China was likely to maintain steady growth of 7.5 percent to 8 percent in real terms in 2014. He said three factors would affect China’s macro-economic performance during the year: the impacts of the external environment, its fight against pollution and its prudent macro-economic policy. "China’s exports are estimated to pick up modestly in 2014 from the preceding year, possibly reaching double-digit growth," Lu told Xinhua at a press conference, citing an expected improvement in the global economy, which would benefit Chinese export sectors. Lu also highlighted China’s macro-economic policy, […]

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Growth in China’s services industries slowed in December, separate surveys have found, echoing a slowdown in manufacturing and confirming views that the economy lost steam at the end of last year. HSBC on Monday released its purchasing managers’ index for services, compiled by Markit Economics, showing a drop to 50.9 in December, its lowest level since August 2011, from 52.5 in November. But the figure remained above the 50-point level that indicates expansion in activity. New business growth was the slowest in six months. A similar survey by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, released Friday, also showed a slowdown in service sector growth in December, to a four-month low of 54.6, from the previous month’s 56. Indexes from the government and HSBC last week showed that China’s factory activity slowed in December, suggesting the moderation in the country’s growth in the final quarter of 2013 was broad-based. […]

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China’s cabinet has published guidelines strengthening regulation of risky off-balance-sheet lending in a new effort to address growing financial risks from an explosion in debt. The State Council’s guidelines call for tighter regulation of banks’ off-balance-sheet lending and say that trust companies – the biggest non-bank players in what’s called "shadow banking" – should return to their original purpose as asset managers and not engage in "credit-type" business. A copy of the council’s Document 107, dated December 11, was obtained by Reuters. There’s been no official confirmation of the document, which was addressed to government agencies at the central and local level. An index of the biggest mainland stocks .CSI300 closed at its lowest level in five months on Monday, as concerns about the new regulations weighed down the market. .SS China’s policymakers are concerned that the country’s economy has become overly reliant on borrowing to […]

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Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli on Friday said that accuracy is key for the data collected in the ongoing third national economic census. Zhang said that data collectors must stick to independent surveys to ensure that no false data are reported. "The third national economic census is a significant survey of the whole society and national economy," Zhang said, adding that the survey will be of practical use for the nation’s efforts to comprehensively push forward reforms, accelerate the transformation of the economic development pattern, improve people’s livelihoods, and boost sustainable development. Accuracy is being emphasized because the data will provide an important basis for policymakers in making scientific decisions for both the Party and the country, Zhang said during his inspection of census work in the capital city of Beijing. The census, launched on Wednesday, is designed to complete a database covering all […]

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China’s manufacturing activities in private and export-oriented companies grew in December at the slowest pace in three months, the latest evidence that structural reforms have slowed China’s economic growth, a survey showed yesterday. The HSBC Purchasing Managers’ Index, which measures operating conditions in largely private companies, fell slightly to 50.5 from November’s 50.8, according to HSBC Holdings Plc. The reading was flat from a flash reading released on December 16. A reading above 50 means expansion. Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC, said the decline was mainly due to slower output growth, but a steady increase of new orders kept the PMI in the expansion territory for the fifth consecutive months. “The recovering momentum since August 2013 is continuing into 2014, in our view,” said Qu. “With inflation still benign, we expect the current monetary and fiscal policy to remain […]

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Faced with a mountain of maturing loans this year, China has given local governments the go-ahead to issue bonds as a way of rolling over their debt to avoid defaults. The announcement by the National Development and Reform Commission, a top central planning authority, is the most explicit official endorsement of a massive debt refinancing operation that has become unavoidable and is already under way, analysts said. The need for the rollover highlights the tricky balance that Beijing must strike as it tries to rein in debt without triggering a sharp downturn in growth. Local government debt levels have soared 70 per cent to almost $3tn in less than three years, according to an official audit published on Monday. Nearly 40 per cent of that overall amount will mature before the end of this year, placing huge pressure on local governments to come up with the cash to make […]

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Labourers work in a clothing factory in Huaibei, north China’s Anhui province on May 23, 2013. Manufacturing activity in China contracted in May for the first time in seven months, HSBC said on May 23, in another sign of the weakness of recovery in the world’s second-largest economy Growth in China’s manufacturing sector slowed for the first time in six months in December, dragged down by weak demand for Chinese exports, according to an official purchasing manager’s index. The state-sponsored PMI fell to 51 in December, down from 51.4 in November, marking a four-month low and highlighting the challenges facing the ruling Communist party as it tries to transform the growth model in the world’s second-largest economy. “From the overall situation we can predict that the future industrial growth rate will decline, the export growth rate may drop and economic growth is still under downward pressure,” said economist Zhang […]

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China’s quest to solve its $3 trillion-and-growing public debt problem by starting a domestic municipal bond market hinges on the one thing its officials are most afraid of: transparency. As markets absorb the results of China’s latest audit of its state finances, Beijing’s long-standing vow to develop a municipal bond market to curtail rapid growth in other types of hidden public debt will take centerstage once more. By letting local governments sell bonds for cash, China wants to rely on nimble markets rather than inflexible regulations to keep spendthrift units in check. The stakes are high. A bond market is the centerpiece in China’s blueprint to mop up fiscal troubles and keep its economy growing at an even pace, giving it needed room to start other bold financial reforms. But analysts say China’s dreams of a municipal bond market are so far just that, as building […]

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China’s quest to solve its $3 trillion-and-growing public debt problem by starting a domestic municipal bond market hinges on the one thing its officials are most afraid of: transparency. As markets absorb the results of China’s latest audit of its state finances, Beijing’s long-standing vow to develop a municipal bond market to curtail rapid growth in other types of hidden public debt will take centerstage once more. By letting local governments sell bonds for cash, China wants to rely on nimble markets rather than inflexible regulations to keep spendthrift units in check. The stakes are high. A bond market is the centerpiece in China’s blueprint to mop up fiscal troubles and keep its economy growing at an even pace, giving it needed room to start other bold financial reforms. But analysts say China’s dreams of a municipal bond market are so far just that, as building […]

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