China Chart Pack Leveraging up again Nominal GDP growth and credit growth almost converged at the end of 2018, but the gap between them has widened again this year as growth has slowed and policymakers have shifted their focus away from... 17th July 2019 · 12 mins read
China Chart Pack Tariff impact intensifies Tariffs have weighed heavily on China’s exports to the US in recent months. Shipments of goods in the $50bn list were almost 30% lower in the first four months of 2019 than they were a year before... 25th June 2019 · 12 mins read
China Chart Pack Trade tensions may exacerbate retail sales slump Retail sales growth slowed sharply in April, to its slowest pace since the SARS outbreak in 2003. While part of the weakness can be explained by a drop in fuel prices, the slowdown was not limited to... 22nd May 2019 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Property demand to remain subdued A further acceleration in home prices on the official survey of 70 cities has sparked hopes that China’s residential property market may be heating up after more than a year of nearly flat sales. But... 18th April 2019 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Labour market softens The jump in China’s unemployment rate from 4.9% in December to 5.3% last month, the highest in nearly two years, has added to the worries about the economy. The survey-based unemployment rate may not... 18th March 2019 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Exports now showing impact of tariffs The impact of US tariffs on China’s exports was initially masked by firms rushing out shipments of unaffected products in an attempt to beat any tariffs that came in later. That “front-running” seems... 21st February 2019 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Demographic headwinds building China’s working age population is currently falling by around 0.2% per year and in 2018 employment contracted for the first time in the reform era. These developments aren’t a surprise but the... 23rd January 2019 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Xi signals state sector to remain dominant Hopes that President Xi would use his speech today on the 40th anniversary of the start of China’s “Reform and Opening Up” to announce a renewed push for market-based reforms were disappointed. Rather... 18th December 2018 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Swine fever hogs headlines, but impact still small The spread of African swine fever (ASF) to China’s leading pig-rearing province (Sichuan) last week is an alarming development. But despite its rapid expansion across the country (the disease has... 20th November 2018 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Renminbi to break through 7.0 before long The People’s Bank (PBOC) appears to have stepped up intervention recently to support the renminbi as it has approached 7.0 to the US dollar. Many are talking about that line as a psychological... 29th October 2018 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Trade war set to escalate The US appears to be on the verge of expanding its tariffs to cover a total of $250bn of Chinese goods, the production of which generates 1.3% of China’s GDP. The proposed $200bn tariff list includes... 17th September 2018 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Bad loans on the rise Commercial banks’ non-performing loans (NPL) rose by RMB183bn in Q2, the biggest increase in over a decade. On paper, bad loans now make up just under 2% of all loans, the highest ratio since the... 16th August 2018 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Corporate defaults surge Corporate bond defaults in China have jumped recently, adding to worries about the economic outlook. July is on track to more than double the previous monthly record for the scale of onshore bonds... 19th July 2018 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Capital flows balanced despite rise in trade tensions Against a backdrop of rising trade tensions with the US and jitters about the wider outlook for emerging economies, capital flows in and out of China have been broadly balanced. Global investors still... 21st June 2018 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Renminbi resilient amidst EM currency sell-off With rising US bond yields putting EM currencies under pressure, the renminbi stands out as a beacon of stability. It has only edged down against the dollar and has continued strengthening in trade... 17th May 2018 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Health of labour market as unclear as ever Investor scepticism about much of China’s economic data is deep-rooted and the unemployment figures have long been considered among the worst of the lot. So the release this week of a new, survey... 18th April 2018 · 1 min read
