Recovery again constrained by COVID
Growth is weakly recovering, with pressure ahead largely due to COVID prevention measures and related lockdowns. Although rumors have suggested that the zero-COVID policy could be abandoned, there were also signs that China would commit to this policy in the short term, citing reasons in state media that China’s per-capita medical resources are low. We forecast that, although there might be some relaxing adjustment -- for example, reducing quarantines for those entering the country from abroad to five days from seven -- the zero-COVID policy will not be abandoned soon.
Industrial output rose 4% y/y in January-October, continuing its weak recovery since May. Investment rose 5.8% y/y, down 0.1 pps from first three quarters. China’s PMI, manufacturing PMI and non-manufacturing business activity index were 49%, 49.2%, and 48.7% respectively, down 1.9 pps, 0.9 pps, and 1.9 pps from September.
Retail sales of social consumption goods fell -0.5% y/y, down 3 pps from September. Exports in October rose 7% y/y, down 3.7 pps from September. The global weakening demand is the main reason behind slower exports, and very likely to persist in the medium term.
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