![]() ![]() Exports dropped 0.3% that month, the first decline since mid-2020. However, the trend started to shift in October. The huge trade surplus was thanks to strong export growth during the first quarter of 2022, as a weak Chinese currency and rising prices of goods helped boost the value of exports. That translates into a trade surplus of $877.6 billion, surpassing 2021’s record of $676 billion. Measured in US dollars, exports jumped 7% in 2022, while imports increased 1.1%. The country’s total trade of goods hit an all-time high in 2022, reaching 42.07 trillion yuan ($6.3 trillion), up 7.7% from 2021, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Friday. Sources told Reuters last week that Beijing is planning to lower its economic growth target to 6-6.5 percent this year after an expected 6.6 percent in 2018, the slowest pace in 28 years.China reported a record trade surplus for 2022, as its key export sector delivered robust growth for most of last year, providing much-needed support for the world’s second largest economy that’s hammered by its zero-Covid policy.īut plunging shipments in December suggest exports are likely to struggle in early 2023 as the global economy weakens. In an annual meeting of top leaders last month, China said it will boost support for the economy in 2019 by cutting taxes and stepping up policy adjustments.Ī few analysts believe interest rate cuts are a possibility, but most expect Beijing will refrain from massive stimulus measures like those deployed in the past, due to worries that it could add to a mountain of debt and weaken the yuan. “If pressure on the economy is still relatively large in the first half, a cut every quarter should be highly likely,” said Xu Gao, chief economist at Everbright Securities. “Overall economic growth slowed further in the fourth quarter and remains under pressure from weaker exports, slow credit growth and cooling real estate activity.”Ĭhinese policymakers are widely expected to roll out more support measures in coming months if domestic and external conditions continue to deteriorate.Įarly this month, the central bank said it would slash banks’ reserve requirements - the fifth such cut in a year - as it tries to encourage more lending and reduce the risk of a sharp slowdown. Imports also saw a shock drop, falling 7.6 percent in their biggest decline since July 2016. Some analysts had already speculated that Beijing may have to speed up and intensify its policy easing and stimulus measures this year after factory activity shrank in December.Ĭhina’s December exports unexpectedly fell 4.4 percent from a year earlier, with demand in most of its major markets weakening. The dismal December trade readings suggest China’s economy may have cooled faster than expected late in the year, despite a slew of growth-boosting measures in recent months ranging from higher infrastructure spending to tax cuts. Softening demand in China is being felt around the world, with slowing sales of goods from iPhones to automobiles, prompting warnings from the likes of Apple and from Jaguar Land Rover, which last week announced sweeping job cuts. ![]() REUTERS/StringerĪdding to policymakers’ worries, data on Monday also showed China posted its biggest trade surplus with the United States on record in 2018, which could prompt President Donald Trump to turn up the heat on Beijing in their bitter trade dispute. FILE PHOTO: Containers and trucks are seen at a terminal of the Qingdao port in Shandong province, China November 8, 2018.
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