China’s Economy Grew Steadily, Thanks to Loans and Homes
China’s Economy Grew Steadily, Thanks to Loans and Homes
“While recent policies to contain financial risks have slowed the pace of debt accumulation, China has yet to achieve stabilizing debt ratios,
and is farther still from outright deleveraging,” Andrew Fennell, the director of sovereign ratings at Fitch Ratings, wrote in an email.
Still other figures — including retail spending, housing sales
and trade figures — suggest an economy growing steadily under the guiding hand of the government.
Heavy lending by state-owned banks, brisk government spending and strong exports helped keep China’s economy growing briskly and steadily.
Zhou Xiaochuan, the long-serving governor of the central bank, warned in a speech in Washington on Sunday
that a large chunk of the debt accumulated by Chinese state-owned enterprises might actually represent disguised borrowing by local governments.
China’s statistical agency said on Thursday that the economy had grown 6.8 percent
in the July-to-September period, compared with the same quarter a year ago.
Addressing the Communist Party Congress on Wednesday, Mr. Xi told officials, “Real estate is for living in, not for speculation.”
Plenty of people in China apparently feel otherwise.
President Xi Jinping had put heavy pressure on practically every government ministry to make sure that the economy put in a solid performance.
The figure announced on Thursday was similar to other results from recent quarters, a trend
that makes many economists doubt the reliability of China’s headline economic numbers.
“While recent policies to contain financial risks have slowed the pace of debt accumulation, China has yet to achieve stabilizing debt ratios,
and is farther still from outright deleveraging,” Andrew Fennell, the director of sovereign ratings at Fitch Ratings, wrote in an email.
Still other figures — including retail spending, housing sales
and trade figures — suggest an economy growing steadily under the guiding hand of the government.
Heavy lending by state-owned banks, brisk government spending and strong exports helped keep China’s economy growing briskly and steadily.
Zhou Xiaochuan, the long-serving governor of the central bank, warned in a speech in Washington on Sunday
that a large chunk of the debt accumulated by Chinese state-owned enterprises might actually represent disguised borrowing by local governments.
China’s statistical agency said on Thursday that the economy had grown 6.8 percent
in the July-to-September period, compared with the same quarter a year ago.
Addressing the Communist Party Congress on Wednesday, Mr. Xi told officials, “Real estate is for living in, not for speculation.”
Plenty of people in China apparently feel otherwise.
President Xi Jinping had put heavy pressure on practically every government ministry to make sure that the economy put in a solid performance.
The figure announced on Thursday was similar to other results from recent quarters, a trend
that makes many economists doubt the reliability of China’s headline economic numbers.