adminChina’s economy entered the final quarter of 2013 with an acceleration in manufacturing and exports, momentum that offered confidence to Communist leaders gathering to determine policy shifts for the coming decade. Industrial output rose a more-than-estimated 10,3 percent from a year earlier in October and manufacturing investment strengthened, according to data released on November 9 by the National Bureau of Statistics. Customs data the previous day showed overseas sales rebounded by more than forecast.
President Xi Jinping and top Communist leaders tomorrow conclude a four-day gathering to map out an economic blueprint to sustain growth and drive the urbanisation of hundreds of millions of rural residents.
Chinese media reported yesterday on the prospects for allowing private investment in government businesses and for expanding a property tax nationwide as the People’s Daily said the party needs to demonstrate the “ability to govern.”
“The recent data all suggest a gently recovering economy – good enough to allow the leadership to stop worrying about the next few months and focus on medium-term reform. The question is now whether they have a convincing-enough plan to deal with those medium-term challenges,” said Stephen Green, head of Greater China research at Standard Chartered Plc in Hong Kong.
Standard Chartered last month raised its estimate for China’s 2013 economic growth to 7,6 percent from 7,5 percent and revised next year’s forecast to 7,4 percent from 7,2 percent. The new projections match the median estimates in Bloomberg News surveys in October.
About 370 top Communist Party members including government ministers, military officers and heads of state-owned companies are gathering in Beijing for a meeting known as the third plenum to decide on the scale and pace of changes in the world’s second-biggest economy. A communique will be released after the meeting ends outlining the road-map.
“How to make breakthroughs and overcome hardships and how to respond to people’s callings in a better way relate to the appeal of reform, and are testing our party’s ability to govern,” the Communist mouthpiece People’s Daily said yesterday. – Bloomberg.
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