China

China’s downturn suggests a special liquidity trap
Asia, China

China’s downturn suggests a special liquidity trap

HONG KONG, July 25 (Reuters Breakingviews) - China is awash with money and its growth is slowing. To avert a prolonged stagnation, President Xi Jinping’s administration may need to spend its way out of the problem. Yet this and other classic remedies to such a malaise may not be effective in Beijing’s “socialist market economy”. China’s condition may be seen as what economists call a liquidity trap, though the term means different things to different people. Writing a century ago during the Great Depression, John Maynard Keynes described a situation where bond yields fall to a lower limit and individuals hoard cash. In 1998 after Japan’s property bubble burst, its economy slid into recession and monetary policy lost impact as interest rates were close to zero, Paul Krugman warned,...
Asia, China

China is going through its worst-case scenario of a financial catastrophe in 2008.

China’s leaders on Thursday announced lofty economic goals for the coming years, repeated Chinese Communist Party (CCP) buzz phrases and offered up traditional Marxist jargon after the Communist Party’s much-anticipated Third Plenum. However, as Reuters reported, they provided “no implementation details.” As a result, the Chinese economy will continue to erode. Continued erosion will almost inevitably result in a debt crisis, undoubtedly one of historic proportions. The CCP pledged, at the meeting held once every half decade, to enhance social security and healthcare programs and implement tax and financial reforms, but the ruling organization has promised these changes before. The Plenum communique said China would support “new quality productive forces,” one of Xi J...
Asia, China, Market

India–China relations under the Modi 3.0 government

On 4 June, Narendra Modi was re-elected as prime minister of India for a third consecutive term – unprecedented in 62 years. By reappointing his foreign minister and national security advisor, Modi has signalled his desire for continuity in India’s statecraft. However, among India’s key bilateral ties, those with China will merit significant attention and possibly adaptation. As the relationship between Asia’s largest nuclear-armed militaries and economies by 2025 appears increasingly distant and tense, where is it headed?  Mutually exclusive prosperity and security  India–China ties are troubled by an unsettled border, an unequal trade relationship, China’s strategic ties to Pakistan, and a broadening political-strategic disagreement ove...
China, Market

Mozambique and Malaysia report stable ilmenite prices while China’s market slows.

The Ilmenite market in the initial stages of July 2024 reflects a patchwork of stability and fluctuation driven by regional economic conditions and industry demands. Mozambique and Malaysia are seeing steady or positive developments in production and demand, while China faces challenges due to economic slowdowns and regulatory impacts. In Mozambique, Ilmenite prices have remained stable at USD 300 per metric ton (MT) for IP-3 Grade, (FOB) Moma, during the first half of July. This stability follows consistent pricing from the previous month. Kenmare Resources, the operator of the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine in northern Mozambique, has reported a noteworthy increase in production figures. Heavy Mineral Concentrate (HMC) production reached 342,600 tonnes in the second quarter of 2024, mar...
Asia, China, Market, World

Economic Survey 2024 Updates: CEA Nageswaran advices more FDI from China to boost India’s exports

Economic Survey 2024 Updates: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Economic Survey 2023-2024 on Monday, ahead of the highly anticipated Union Budget 2024-25 set to be unveiled the following day. The Union Budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 will be introduced in Parliament this Tuesday by Sitharaman, marking the first budget of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's third term. The Monsoon session, which begins today, will feature 19 sittings until August 12. During this session, the government plans to present six bills, including one to replace the 90-year-old Aircraft Act, and seek Parliament's approval for the budget of Jammu and Kashmir, which is currently under central rule. Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran has expressed confidence in achieving the 7 perce...
Asia, China, Market

China’s third plenum – watch what they do, not what they say

When trying to understand China’s economy, it’s worth remembering that the gulf between what Chinese policymakers say and what they do can be vast. Let’s call that a ‘Type 1 problem’. But sometimes they just don’t say very much at all, and this one might call a ‘Type 2 problem’. Last week’s third plenum, a five-yearly top-level meeting which on occasion has delivered important signals of Beijing’s grand economic strategy, served up a Type 2 problem. Unless you attribute a great deal of significance to Beijing’s ‘Five-Sphere Integrated Plan’ or the ‘Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy’, the plenum’s communique was long on slogans and short on substance. A lack of clarity To be fair, many of these slogans do genuinely reflect deep thinking about policy. When Beijing offic...
China economy: Key conference gives scant insights on how to confront the growing crisis.
China, Market

China economy: Key conference gives scant insights on how to confront the growing crisis.

China’s ruling Communist Party has set ambitious long-term policy goals at its most important political meeting on reform, but offered little detail on how to pull the world’s second-largest economy out of a worsening downturn. In a behind-closed doors meeting known as the third plenum, more than 360 members of the party’s Central Committee — including the most senior political and military leaders and heads of state-owned enterprises — held talks from Monday to Thursday at a hotel in Beijing. According to a communique released Thursday, discussions at the plenum — traditionally held every five years — centered on how to deepen reforms in a wide range of areas and advance “Chinese-style modernization,” a broad ideal for the country’s development backed by Chinese lead...
<strong>Uncertainty and insecurity in job markets contribute to China’s economic slowdown</strong>
Asia, China

Uncertainty and insecurity in job markets contribute to China’s economic slowdown

Unemployment and growing job insecurity in China have seen a sharp increase, becoming a major contributor to the ongoing slowdown in the Chinese economy. The real estate crisis is another factor that is being cited for the dip in China’s GDP, which is however a fallout of declining confidence among property buyers amid the disturbing unemployment situation in the country. In the previous financial quarter, the growth rate of the Chinese economy shrunk to 4.1 percent, missing the expectations of 5.1 percent. While the fresh graduates are struggling to find jobs, those already employed are scared of being sacked anytime or forced to work at lower salaries. Joblessness in China is still high, with the youth unemployment rate remaining at 13.2 percent in June. The Chinese job market is ...
China’s Communist Party plans to revive the economy by focusing on technology and security.
China

China’s Communist Party plans to revive the economy by focusing on technology and security.

BANGKOK (AP) — In a year of major elections that will determine the destinies of many countries, China’s ruling Communist Party is holding closed, top-level meetings in Beijing to set strategies for reviving its slowing economy. State media likened the meetings that end Thursday to reforms started in the late 1970s that opened China’s economy to foreign investment and private enterprise. State broadcaster CCTV said the agenda for this year’s meetings is to study and endorse “all-around deepening reforms.” Nearly a half-century after the late leader Deng Xiaoping launched China’s ascent as a manufacturing powerhouse, the party is doubling down on leader Xi Jinping’s blueprint for technology- and national security-focused development. Economists say it’s unclear if that will...
Asia, China, Market, USA, World

Will China ever overtake the US economy?

The idea of China's outstripping the United States to become the world's largest economy has been a fixation for policymakers and economists for decades. What will happen, they argue, when the US — one of the most dynamic, productive economies — is usurped by an authoritarian regime with a workforce of 750 million? Predictions of when exactly China would steal the US's crown have come thick and fast ever since the 2008/9 financial crisis, which hampered growth in the United States and Europe for many years. Before what became known as the Great Recession, China saw double-digit annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth for at least five years. In the decade following the crisis, China's economy continued to expand by 6%-9% annually. That is, until COVID-1...