Chinese growth at its lowest for 24 years – The World

Chinese growth at its lowest for 24 years – The World

Le Monde | 01/20/2015 at 5:04 • Updated 01/20/2015 at 11:27 | By Harold Thibault (Shanghai, correspondence)

In the spring of 2014, Chinese leaders were careful to precede their first goal as “Zuoyou” , that is to say “about “, already aware of the political risk hanging over their ability to meet this target

Read also:. The International Monetary Fund remains pessimistic about global growth

MULTIPLY EFFORTS

The growth has stabilized at 7.3% growth in the last quarter of 2014, similar to the rate recorded in July to September. “China is at its slowest pace since the subprime crisis” says Xu Gao, chief economist at Everbright Securities.

Beijing, to achieve sustain this level of growth, already had to step up efforts. The central bank had lowered its key interest rates on November 21 after announcing more investment in the rail network and the development of new neighborhoods, as well as tax relief for small businesses.

“NEW STANDARD” OF CHINESE ECONOMY

The government now present these numbers as the “new normal” of the economy Chinese, consisting in slower but better, a speech made by the secretary of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping, who is a requirement of public opinion, tired bubbles, poorly designed projects and requesting stability.

It is no longer a question of a major turnaround. “ China’s economy has achieved steady progress and a qualitative improvement in the new standard in 2014″ argued the National Statistics Office, Tuesday, January 20 in the morning, by publishing these figures . “However, we must also be aware that the domestic and international situation is still complicated and that economic development is facing difficulties and challenges” recall the state statisticians.

FALL OF REAL ESTATE

The deceleration of the housing market, which continued throughout 2014, is the first slowdown factor. The government has placed several years of restrictions on the purchase of multiple properties, in order to deflate a possible bubble, while many Chinese cities have too widely anticipated future demand for housing. It will take time to absorb this excess capacity, and this is the main flange that holds at present the Chinese development. The average house price fell 4.3% year on year in December, the fourth consecutive month of decline.

Many economists now expect the Chinese central bank shall, within the coming weeks, new measures such as a reduction in reserve ratios imposed on banks and lower interest rates to stimulate activity. According to the official figures released Tuesday, the GDP China reached 63,646 billion yuan last year, or 8.838 trillion euros or 10.233 trillion dollars at current rates. So the second world power now joined the United States in the club savings exceeding 10,000 billion.