China Economics Update Employment already declining at pace Revisions to the historic data following the recent census show that China’s population barely grew last year and that employment is already contracting faster than previously understood, having... 24th June 2021 · 6 mins read
China Economics Update LPR on hold as PBOC leans on other policy tools Commercial banks left the Loan Prime Rate (LPR) on hold again today. The PBOC has now fully reversed last year’s credit acceleration using quantitative controls. Accordingly, policy rate hikes that... 21st June 2021 · 2 mins read
Emerging Markets Economics China is about to flood EMs with vaccines By September, China could be in a position to export 340mn vaccines doses each month – more than most regions of the world have administered in total so far. China’s vaccines are less effective than... 17th June 2021 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Dependence on Australian iron ore set to decline In the short-run, China has no choice but to grit its teeth and keep buying Australian iron ore, even as bilateral ties continue to fray. But this dependence will diminish over time thanks to... 26th May 2021 · 6 mins read
China Economics Update PBOC credit objectives being met without LPR hikes Commercial banks left the Loan Prime Rate (LPR) unchanged for the 13 th consecutive month today. Official goals for reining in credit have already been achieved by other means. As such, we do not... 20th May 2021 · 2 mins read
China Economics Update China’s census: the good, the bad and the ugly After a month-long delay, the key results from China’s once-a-decade census were published today. They weren’t as bad earlier media reports had suggested – the population continued to rise at much the... 11th May 2021 · 4 mins read
China Economics Update China’s population may have peaked China’s census has revealed the first population decline since the People’s Republic was founded, according to the FT. If this is confirmed and the beginning of a trend, China’s challenge in... 27th April 2021 · 3 mins read
China Economics Update LPR unchanged as PBOC relies on other policy tools Commercial banks left the Loan Prime Rate (LPR) on hold today. Given that official efforts to rein in credit are being achieved by other means, we do not expect any changes to policy rates in the... 20th April 2021 · 2 mins read
China Economics Update Renminbi turning a corner The renminbi has gained 9% against the US dollar since last May. But the factors that underpinned this appreciation have faded. With US yields moving in the dollar’s favour and China’s economic... 26th March 2021 · 3 mins read
China Economics Update Deferring retirement would barely lift employment China’s statutory retirement ages are low. Raising them, as the Five-Year Plan proposes, would make the pension system more affordable but it wouldn’t make an appreciable difference to the ongoing... 23rd March 2021 · 3 mins read
China Economics Update LPR on hold, PBOC signals preference for other tools Commercial banks left the Loan Prime Rate (LPR) unchanged today. We have been forecasting the PBOC to hike rates this year but the likelihood of that is diminishing – the PBOC appears to favour... 22nd March 2021 · 2 mins read
China Economics Update Quietly doubling down on Made in China 2025 The 14th Five-Year Plan makes clear that self-sufficiency has grown as a priority for China’s leadership. But it is light on specifics. The details will probably be fleshed out in the raft of industry... 19th March 2021 · 9 mins read
China Economics Update The NPC: Taking away the punch bowl The reports delivered at today’s opening of the National People’s Congress (NPC) confirm that with the COVID-19 downturn now in the rear-view mirror the focus of China’s leadership has shifted away... 5th March 2021 · 5 mins read
China Economics Update Planning to do it alone The 14 th Five-Year Plan should provide a revealing view of the key challenges that China’s leadership believes it faces. High among them is a more hostile global environment. In the economic sphere... 3rd March 2021 · 3 mins read
China Economics Update Hong Kong sustains fiscal support Hong Kong has curtailed some of last year’s emergency spending but today’s budget signals that fiscal policy remains loose. There is room to do more, but the key determinant of the economic outlook is... 24th February 2021 · 3 mins read
China Economics Update LPR unchanged but PBOC more hawkish Commercial banks left the Loan Prime Rate (LPR) unchanged on Saturday. But monetary conditions have tightened in practice since the start of the year. We expect the PBOC to formalise the shift with... 22nd February 2021 · 2 mins read
