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Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that virus disruption led to a further decline in output in October. The combination of tightening COVID restrictions, voluntary isolation in the face of rising cases, problems in the property sector and falling …
23rd November 2022
The next few weeks could be the worst in China since the early weeks of the pandemic both for the economy and the healthcare system . Efforts to contain the current outbreak will, at the very least, require additional localised lockdowns in many cities, …
22nd November 2022
Virus disruption has continued to intensify over the past week even after measures to optimise the COVID response were released. Implementation has been haphazard so far. Local officials have struggled to strike a balance between minimising disruption and …
18th November 2022
Recent policy announcements have raised hopes that the property downturn may be coming to an end. But while the measures made public so far reduce some of the downside risks by giving developers and their creditors a little breathing room, they fall short …
17th November 2022
Economy to continue struggling The October data point to a further loss of momentum, with retail sales dropping sharply amid worsening virus outbreaks. November is shaping up to be even worse. With exports cooling, the property sector still in the …
15th November 2022
Virus disruption has intensified recently, with COVID infections hitting a six-month high. The Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC, China’s highest leadership body), met yesterday to discuss the situation. According to the meeting readout, they agreed to …
11th November 2022
A shift away from zero-COVID would be positive for China’s economy over the medium term. But the immediate disruption of reopening would probably exceed the cost of keeping the policy in place, especially if vaccine coverage among the elderly hadn’t …
10th November 2022
Households stop borrowing outright as leadership recommits to zero-COVID Much weaker than expected credit growth – and an extremely unusual outright fall in lending to households – again underlines the difficulties policymakers are facing stimulating …
Factory-gate deflation setting in Consumer price inflation eased last month from September’s 29-month high and remained below the government’s preferred ceiling of 3%. It is set to stay low by global standards over the coming quarters. Meanwhile, producer …
9th November 2022
PPI deflation setting in Consumer price inflation eased last month from September’s 29-month high and remained below the government’s preferred ceiling of 3%. It is set to stay low by global standards over the coming quarters. Meanwhile, producer price …
Exports set to fall further as outlook darkens China’s export volumes dropped back sharply in October, due to a deterioration in global economic conditions and a reversal in pandemic-related demand. We expect exports to weaken further over the coming …
7th November 2022
Chinese equities turned a corner earlier in the week on the back of rumours of plans to shift away from the zero-COVID policy by next March. Remarks reportedly made at a conference by Zeng Guang, the former chief scientist at China’s CDC, added fuel to …
4th November 2022
A more accurate measure of Chinese economic growth. This monthly proxy avoids relying on official GDP figures to gauge China's economic growth. As discussed in our latest China Activity Monitor, our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that the economic …
On some measures China’s current COVID situation is about as bad as it has ever been. While far fewer infections are being found daily than at the peak of the Omicron wave, new cases are geographically spread just as wide, with the result that the …
1st November 2022
Better than expected but still consistent with a slowdown The Caixin manufacturing PMI rose in October but remained weak. Taken together with the official survey published yesterday, it points to a slowdown in industrial activity last month. We think the …
Weak exports will continue to hold back the city’s recovery Hong Kong’s economy contracted last quarter due to a sharp decline in exports. While the ongoing easing of virus-related restrictions should continue to support a recovery in retail spending, …
31st October 2022
COVID disruptions and global downturn hit activity The official PMIs point to a further loss of momentum this month as virus disruptions worsened and export orders remained under pressure. With the zero-COVID policy here to stay, we think the economy will …
COVID disruptions and global downturn hit activity The official PMIs point to a further loss of momentum in this month as virus disruptions worsened and export orders remained under pressure. With the zero-COVID policy here to stay, we think the economy …
The Q3 GDP figures published earlier this week came in slightly stronger than expected. We don’t think the data should be taken completely at face value – our in-house alternative, the China Activity Proxy, paints a more downbeat picture . But the …
28th October 2022
Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that output declined in September by the most since the Omicron wave. The main culprit – renewed disruption from virus curbs – appears to have worsened further this month. We think the economy will contract this …
25th October 2022
Xi Jinping has removed the last vestiges of rival factions from the upper echelons of the Party, stacking the Politburo full of loyalists in a clean sweep not seen since the Mao era. With political ties taking increasing precedence over technocratic …
24th October 2022
Omicron hit reversed but momentum still weak Growth ticked up in Q3 as China's economy recovered from the Omicron wave. But this leaves output only slightly higher than where it started the year. And momentum is already weakening again. GDP growth picked …
Omicron hit reversed but momentum still weak Growth ticked up in Q3 as the hit from the Omicron wave reversed. But this leaves output only slightly higher than where it started the year. And momentum is now weakening again. GDP growth picked up from 0.4% …
The Party Congress has slowed the leadership’s response to the semiconductor export controls introduced by the Biden administration two weeks ago. But the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has, according to Bloomberg, been conducting …
21st October 2022
Overview - We expect greater stimulus next year. But with the zero-COVID policy here to stay, an abrupt turnaround in property construction unlikely and exports set to fall, policymakers face an uphill battle. Growth will remain depressed. Consumer …
Economists from across our Asia teams were online for this 20-minute briefing on the region’s big investment stories. During this session, the team answered client questions about what’s happening in Asian economics and markets as they addressed current …
20th October 2022
General Secretary Xi’s Report to the Party Congress signalled a further shift away from market-based reforms in favour of a state-led campaign to increase self-sufficiency and economic security. Investors should also be wary of the growing focus on …
17th October 2022
The Party Congress begins on Sunday. We covered much of the agenda and economic implications in a Focus piece and at a Drop-In event (recording here ) this week. One element of both was a discussion of who might replace Li Keqiang as premier. But Li …
14th October 2022
Core inflation continues to ease Consumer price inflation rose to a 29-month high in September and is now scraping up against the government’s preferred ceiling of 3%. But this was due to a rise in food inflation that is likely to prove temporary. With …
There is no prospect of China lifting its zero-COVID policy in the near future and it probably won’t happen before the end of 2023. If the leadership did want to transition to living with the virus, it would first have to raise the vaccination rate of …
13th October 2022
Policy support starts to gain traction Credit growth surprised to the upside last month, edging up thanks to official efforts to boost lending via policy banks. But wider appetite for borrowing still appears depressed, which will probably keep credit …
12th October 2022
Central banks have the tools to deal with liquidity crises arising from rising interest rates and falling asset prices. Instead, the bigger threat is that higher interest rates produce large and simultaneous falls in asset prices that threaten the …
11th October 2022
Our economists discussed what to expect from the Party Congress and answered client questions in an online Drop-In. The recording can be viewed here . The Party Congress will deliver a major reshuffle of China’s leadership but, with General Secretary …
Our annual Spotlight series this year looks at the implications of the “fracturing” of the global economy that we believe is being caused by the re-emergence of geopolitics as a driver of policy. The key divide is between China and the West. Events at the …
7th October 2022
No sign of FX sales, but PBOC pushing back in other ways The decline in China’s foreign exchange reserves appears to be due to valuation effects rather than direct intervention in the FX market. But we still think the PBOC will try, and may well succeed, …
It has been five years since the People’s Bank last dipped into its own foreign exchange reserves on a significant scale to support the currency. Since then, it is widely believed …
3rd October 2022
Mortgage rate floor relaxed, LPR cuts now less likely After being slashed this year, mortgage rates in most cities are now at the regulatory floor which, for first-time buyers, is currently set at 20 basis points below the five-year loan prime rate …
30th September 2022
Industry and services both take a hit The surveys suggest that China’s economy continued to lose momentum in September, with the global downturn weighing on exports and virus disruptions dealing a fresh blow to services activity. While the latter should …
Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that virus disruption and cooling exports caused the economy to stagnate in August. September was likely worse and there is little upside in the near-term. The CAP is our attempt to track the pace of growth in …
28th September 2022
Some progress in restarting stalled projects Back in July, homeowners banded together en masse and refused to repay mortgages on presold homes in projects where construction had stalled. This sent shockwaves through the housing market, further …
23rd September 2022
The outlook for China’s economy has deteriorated recently, but it still doesn’t look like the PBOC will ease policy much in response. We suspect that if the central bank were to have a change of heart, it would be quite disruptive to the country’s …
16th September 2022
PBOC trying to loosen without triggering renminbi The onshore renminbi weakened past 7/$ for the first time in two years today. Recent currency weakness has clearly put the PBOC on edge. It has been pushing back via the daily fixing. The exchange rate …
Economy to stay weak amid zero-COVID and property woes China’s economy held up slightly better than anticipated last month, but momentum still weakened relative to July amid renewed virus disruptions and factory closures due to power shortages. September …