How Can China’s Economy Maintain Steady Growth at a Challenging Time?

China will continue to innovate and improve its macro-control policies to offset external uncertainties and strive to keep economic growth within a reasonable range, Premier Li Keqiang said when presiding over a meeting on Jan 15, attended by scholars and entrepreneurs on a draft version of the government work report. In recent years, there have been increasing voices claiming that China’s economic growth has already peaked after several years of rapid growth. There are also many factors pointing towards a range of risks set to appear in the near future. In addition, several new problems have emerged in the development of China’s economy both before and after the US-China trade war began. Confronted with the pressure of an economic downturn, what form will China’s future economic development take? And what is the driving force behind China’s sustained economic development? The Development of China’s Economy in 2018 On the one hand, China’s economy improved in terms of stability in 2018: profits across various industries and companies maintained a rather high rate of growth, while some industries with high profit growth drove the recovery of manufacturing investments. At the same time, signs of overheating in the real estate market have been alleviated. On the other hand, China’s economy has been affected by factors including household debt accumulation, widening income gaps and the […]

Jan 25, 2019

Chinese Consumption Slows as Confidence Wanes

For months those who keep an eye on China (and the world economy, such is its reliance on China) have been told how domestic consumption is to act as a panacea of sorts as the country transitions from its previous model driven by exports and domestic consumption, yet it might be time to pump the brakes on that idea. At the end of September, the Westpac MNI China Consumer Sentiment Indicator was the highest it had been since May 2014, with MNI Indicators Chief Economist Philip Uglow saying “Our cross-section of urban Chinese consumers seems oblivious to the tirade of negativity that surrounds China at the moment.” Yet the very next month, Chinese consumer sentiment dropped to the lowest recording since the indicator came into effect in 2007, and just like that Huw McKay, senior international economist at Westpac, was saying, “This result openly questions the resilience of the Chinese consumer to the discouraging state of the real economy.” That is quite the swing.                     Source: Westpac, Deutsche Borse Group Earlier this week, Reuters published an article detailing how China’s economic slowdown was hurting the global wine industry, just one of the many industries that was once looking to China for the explosive growth that was going to carry the sector […]

Nov 10, 2015