- PRC Macro Advisors
China's economy grew at the slowest pace in 25 years in 2015, increasing pressure on Beijing to act to address concerns of prolonged slowdown in the world's second biggest economy. In 2015, the Chinese economy expanded at a 6.9% pace, compared with officials' expectations for a 7% growth and down from 7.3% in 2014. In the final quarter of the year, GDP increased 6.8%, compared with September quarter's growth of 6.9%. To combat slowing growth, the Chinese government has unleashed a slew of easing measures, including interest rate and reserve requirement ration cuts from the PBoC. However, given a sluggish property sector, analysts predict further aggressive actions from officials, particularly in light of the Chinese economy's transition from a manufacturing-based export-reliant model to a more services oriented consumption. Moreover, the world's second biggest economy saw a difficult start to the current year, which included markets closure on two occasions as steep declines of more than 7% triggered market circuit breakers and a halt to trading, sparking jitters through global markets.
The International Monetary Fund expects a growth rate of 6.3% for China for both 2016 and 2017, compared with the previous growth forecast of 6.7%.
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