- Pauline Loong, managing director at Asia-analytica Research Pte
The number of Chinese bankers, who predict that the nation's economic growth is cooling, rose in the fourth quarter from the previous three-month period, while the "confidence index" of bankers declined, according to People's Bank of China survey of 3,100 institutions. China's central bank said the survey revealed 48.8% of bankers believed the Chinese economy was losing steam, compared with 42.8% in the three months through September, while the confidence index of bankers declined to 52.5% in the final quarter of the year, down from 59.1% in the July-September period. On top of that, the confidence index of Chinese enterprises declined to 61% in the current quarter from 63.6% in the previous one. However, the PBoC said the survey also showed that in the fourth quarter the number of bankers, who believed monetary policy was "appropriate", rose from July-September.
China's annual economic growth slid to 7.3% in the third quarter, and November's soft factory and investment data suggest full-year growth will miss Beijing's 7.5% growth target and turn out to be the weakest in 24 years. Nevertheless, China's officials previously said that they would tolerate slightly weaker economic growth rate, as China's economy is heading to a "new normal" levels of growth.
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