There seems to be some good news out of China. Recent data show some improvement in the economy’s activity but the country still faces downward pressure.
Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli said on Sunday, “We don’t want to shy away from saying that China’s economy is facing downward pressure, but overall the progress is steady,”
Recent data, until early March, including fixed-asset investment and employment, showed that the economy has been improving. For some time now, and following a slide in the country’s stock market and depreciation of the yuan, Chinese leaders have been trying to assure concerned financial markets and especially China’s main trading partners that Beijing is capable of managing its decelerating economy.
According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics earlier this month, China’s manufacturing sector grew at its weakest pace since 2008 in January and February and that the world’s second-largest economy expanded by 6.9 percent in 2015, its slowest pace in 25 years.
Reasonable Growth Rate
The government has indicated that it will make preemptive policy adjustments to help keep economic growth within a reasonable range and has set a growth target of 6.5 percent to 7 percent for 2016 and has promised to make monetary policy more flexible this year.
According to Zhang, the government plans to cut excess industrial overcapacity, focusing on such sectors as coal, steel, aluminum and plate glass and will work towards preventing risks in the stock, debt, currency and property markets, “prevent ‘cross infection’ in between the markets and ward off systemic risks in the economy.”
