China Economics Weekly US attack on RMB would flop, fiscal cliff avoided Some are speculating that the next salvo in the Trump administration’s efforts to hurt China’s economy could be foreign exchange intervention to force up the value of the renminbi. Such efforts would... 23rd August 2019 · 5 mins read
China Economics Weekly Foreign factories struggle, HK stimulus not enough A slump in exports by foreign firms is behind much of the recent slowdown in industrial production. While Chinese officials may appreciate the irony of foreign-owned factories being the worst hit by... 16th August 2019 · 4 mins read
China Economics Weekly The pros and cons of a weaker renminbi The recent weakening of the renminbi has revived a debate over the economic impact of currency depreciation. There will be both winners and losers domestically. But given that China’s government... 8th August 2019 · 7 mins read
China Economics Weekly US tariffs, PBOC easing, property controls President Trump’s latest threat to put further tariffs on Chinese goods is unlikely to trigger the hoped-for concessions from China. With the direct hit to China’s economy still manageable, President... 2nd August 2019 · 7 mins read
China Economics Weekly US-China FDI, PBOC governor talks rates US-China trade tensions have so far had a limited impact on bilateral direct investment. Chinese investment in the US stagnated last year but it had stalled even before Trump started to get tough on... 26th July 2019 · 5 mins read
China Economics Weekly Property construction boom is fizzling out China’s economy has faced multiple headwinds over the past year, but it has also received a significant – and underappreciated – boost from accelerating property construction. Property developers... 19th July 2019 · 4 mins read
China Economics Weekly People’s Bank to follow the Fed The Fed has all-but-confirmed that it will cut rates at its upcoming meeting on 31st July. The PBOC is likely to follow suit, perhaps the next day, with a reduction to its reverse repo rates, the... 12th July 2019 · 6 mins read
China Economics Weekly Fiscal stimulus is back, property curbs still in place Last month’s directive to boost infrastructure spending appears to have had an immediate result, with data this week showing a surge in issuance of infrastructure financing bonds. But easing remains a... 5th July 2019 · 7 mins read
China Economics Weekly G20 truce, armyworm epidemic Trump and Xi will meet tomorrow and may agree to hold off imposing new tariffs for the time being. While this would be a positive outcome for China’s economy and markets in the short-run, any gains... 28th June 2019 · 6 mins read
China Economics Weekly Baoshang reverberations, WTO defeat In a Focus last month, we discussed what we see as the most plausible hard landing scenario for China: troubles at a small bank that spread to the interbank market and trigger a systemic banking... 21st June 2019 · 1 min read
China Economics Weekly Old-school stimulus, HK protests, PBOC still selling FX China’s policymakers are returning to the familiar playbook of local government infrastructure spending to shore up growth but still, it appears, on a relatively small scale. Meanwhile, despite the... 14th June 2019 · 1 min read
China Economics Weekly Chances of lasting trade deal recede Uncompromising messages from Beijing this week suggest that China’s leaders have concluded that there in no prospect of a resolution to the trade war any time soon. Limits on China’s rare earth... 7th June 2019 · 8 mins read
China Economics Weekly Takeaways from the Baoshang Bank takeover The first regulatory takeover of a Chinese bank in more than two decades is a reminder that the balance sheets of many regional lenders are far less healthy than they claim. China’s interbank market... 31st May 2019 · 1 min read
China Economics Weekly Interest rate reforms unlikely to deliver hoped-for gains While the trade war has dominated the headlines, the People’s Bank has been getting on with the unglamorous work of financial reform. It is moving closer to phasing out benchmark lending rates. That... 24th May 2019 · 1 min read
China Economics Weekly Huawei blacklisting, trade war weapons If strictly enforced, the US decision to ban Huawei from doing business with American firms would be major headache for the company, which accounts for around 0.2% of Chinese GDP. And the move may... 17th May 2019 · 1 min read
China Economics Weekly Tariff hike, fiscal support, inflation risks The US hiked tariffs on Chinese goods on Friday. This escalation in trade tensions comes at a challenging time for the Chinese economy, with export growth already weak, fiscal support waning and swine... 10th May 2019 · 1 min read
