China’s economy performs strongly in March: China Beige Book | Private Equity Weekly

BEIJING – China’s economy will end the first quarter with “strong” momentum, a business survey released Thursday by China’s Beige Book showed.

Shehzad H. Qazi, chief operating officer of China Beige Book, an American research company, said, “The economy improved significantly in March due to improved industrial activity and strong retail spending.”

Official data on China’s retail sales, industrial production and fixed asset investment for January and February all exceeded expectations. Data for the first two months of the year are typically reported together to account for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday in the lunar calendar.

China’s Beige Book said it surveyed 1,436 companies between March 1 and 23, roughly divided into state-owned enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises.

“China’s Beige Book data for March shows that the first quarter economy is about to end strongly,” the report said. “Revenue growth accelerated last month, while higher pricing boosted margins.”

The National Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to release first-quarter data on April 16.

China announced earlier this month that its economic growth target for this year would be around 5%. Some analysts say this is an ambitious target given the current level of stimulus measures announced by the government.

China’s Beige Book found that companies have borrowed less in response to rising interest rates, but also observed signs of pause on lending.

“Market watchers have largely missed the substantial policy easing we have tracked over the past year, and now some lenders may be applying the brakes,” the report noted.

“Hiring recorded its longest period of improvement since late 2020,” the report said, noting that job growth accelerated in every industry except services.

Retail spending increased across all sub-sectors except luxury goods, the report said.

On the real estate front, the report said that while sales in the residential sector still declined, commercial sales and construction improved significantly.

Manufacturing production and domestic orders have increased since February, but export orders have declined, the report said.

Official data shows that real estate investment fell by 9% annually in the first two months of this year. Infrastructure investment increased by 6.3% during the period, while manufacturing investment increased by 9.4%.