China will ‘significantly’ increase spending to revive economic growth
CNN
China will “significantly increase” government debt issuance to offer subsidies to people with low incomes, support the property market and replenish banks’ capital.
China will “significantly increase” government debt issuance to offer subsidies to people with low incomes, support the property market and replenish state banks’ capital as it pushes to revive sputtering economic growth. Without providing details on the size of the fiscal stimulus being prepared, Finance Minister Lan Foan told a news conference on Saturday there will be more “counter-cyclical measures” this year. “There is still relatively big room for China to issue debt,” he said. The world’s second-largest economy faces strong deflationary pressures due to a sharp property market downturn and frail consumer confidence, which have exposed its over-reliance on exports in an increasingly tense global trade environment. A wide range of economic data in recent months has missed forecasts, raising concerns among economists and investors that the government’s roughly 5% growth target this year was at risk and that a longer-term structural slowdown could be in play. Data for September, which will be released over the coming week, is expected to show further weakness, but Zheng Shanjie, the chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s state planner, said he was “fully confident” that the target will be met.
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