The Chinese government set new economic targets and policy announcements for 2019, broadly in line with what we had been expecting.The new economic targets for 2019 and policy announcements are broadly in line with our expectations. They generally reflect Chinese policymakers’ intention to support growth in the face of economic headwinds but to avoid massive stimulus.The target for real GDP growth for 2019 was lowered to a range between 6.0% and 6.5%, from “around 6.5%” in 2018 and 2017,...
Read More »China: Credit surges in January
The PBoC's policy easing is gaining traction but growth deceleration may continue in H1.China’s credit numbers for January surprised on the upside. The figures show strong credit creation in the first month of the year, especially in corporate bonds and bank bill financing. The contraction in the shadow banking sector has also moderated. This suggests that the PBoC’s monetary easing measures, which started in Q2 2018, are gaining traction.Although this is an encouraging development, we...
Read More »Inflation Environment remains Benign in China
Inflation is unlikely to be a constraint on central bank’s policy. The headline consumer price index (CPI) in China picked up slightly in September, rising by 2.5% year-over-year (y-o-y) compared with 2.3% in August, driven by higher food price and fuel prices. Excluding food and energy, core inflation in China actually eased to 1.7% y-o-y in September from 2.0% in August. Looking forward, we see some moderate upward...
Read More »Inflation environment remains benign in China
Inflation is unlikely to be a constraint on central bank’s policy.The headline consumer price index (CPI) in China picked up slightly in September, rising by 2.5% year-over-year (y-o-y) compared with 2.3% in August, driven by higher food price and fuel prices. Excluding food and energy, core inflation in China actually eased to 1.7% y-o-y in September from 2.0% in August.Looking forward, we see some moderate upward pressure on Chinese headline inflation due to tariffs on US imports and...
Read More »Fed on the road to normalisation, People’s Bank of China stands pat
The Fed is on track to hike rates once more in 2017, with balance-sheet reduction later this year set to tighten policy further. China’s PBoC is taking a relaxed view of the Fed’s policy changes.As was widely expected, the Federal Reserve decided at latest policy meeting on June 14 to raise the Fed funds rate target range by 25bp to 1.0%-1.25%. The Fed appeared relatively upbeat on the economy, downplayed the recent weakness in inflation numbers and left unchanged its median projections for...
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