China’s economy grew at the slowest pace since early last year in the third quarter, and although consumption and factory output figures beat forecasts last month a tumbling property sector remains a major challenge for Beijing as it races to revitalize growth.
Authorities have sharply ramped up policy stimulus since late last month, but markets are waiting for more details on the size of the package and a clearer road map to put the economy back on a solid longer-term footing.
The world’s second-largest economy grew 4.6 percent in the third quarter, official data showed, a touch above a 4.5 percent forecast in a Reuters poll, but below the 4.7 percent pace in the second quarter.
Photo: Bloomberg
“China’s Q3 2024 data is not a turn-up for the books,” JLL chief economist Bruce Pang (龐溟) said. “The performance aligns with market expectations, given the weak domestic demand, a still struggling housing market and slowing export growth.”
“The stimulus package announced at the end of September will take time and patience to boost growth over the next several quarters,” he said.
Officials addressing a post-data news conference yesterday expressed confidence that the economy could achieve the government’s full year growth target of about 5 percent, underpinned by further policy support and another cut to the amount banks must hold in reserve.
“Based on our comprehensive assessment, the economy in the fourth quarter is expected to continue the stabilization and recovery trend that occurred in September. We are fully confident in achieving the full-year target,” Chinese Statistics Bureau deputy head Sheng Laiyun (盛來運) told reporters.
Policymakers could take some comfort in forecast-topping industrial output and retail sales data for last month, but the property sector continued to show weakness and underline markets’ calls for more support steps.
“We would downplay the importance of better-than-expected key economic indicators in September given that the structural weakness in the property and household sectors remains largely unaddressed,” Oxford Economics economist Betty Wang (王蕊) said.
“The recently announced stimulus measures could cushion the downside risks to next year’s growth, but are unlikely to reverse the structural downturn,” she said.
A Reuters poll showed China’s economy is likely to expand 4.8 percent this year, undershooting Beijing’s target, and growth could cool further to 4.5 percent next year.
On a quarterly basis, the economy expanded 0.9 percent in the third quarter, compared with revised 0.5 percent growth in the second quarter, and below the forecast of 1.0 percent.
With 70 percent of Chinese household wealth held in real estate, a sector that at its peak accounted for one-quarter of the economy, consumers have kept their wallets shut tight.
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
RSS