China’s Economic Growth Slacken in Jan-Mar Period

Chinese economy slowed down gradually in Q1 due to government struggle over credit and financial hazards, while  U.S. trade frictions are showing signs of restricted growth based on AFP survey. China is projected to expand by 6.7 percent during the first quarter but remains to be lower than 6.8 percent in the last quarter of 2017 according to 13 economists prior the publication of official numbers. Analysts see that the decline was linked to the country’s massive pile of debt, financial risks, and slackening property market.

The trade war issues with the United States brought a negative impact towards the markets in the past few weeks, as Beijing and Washington appears to have equal retaliations with regards the bilateral trade. However, the fears triggered by US  President Donald Trump to have an additional $100 billion in Chinese imports would cause solid damage to the economy, experts said.

The trade data was issued by Beijing on April 13 which supported the news that trade surplus in China with the US increased for the fifth time after the first quarter of the current year. There are indications that growth will reach higher than 6.7 percent based on AFP poll, with numbers greater than the official target of the government at 6.5 percent for this year.

On Thursday, Yi Gang, People's Bank of China (PBOC) Governor, stated that China is scheduled to issue its economic quarterly data exceeding its expectations, which further shows an optimistic outlook in 2018.

President Xi Jinping had a propitiatory note on trade last week and pledged to reduced tariffs on cars and other goods which triggered anger of the United States. Also, to open up the economy which had a warm response from Trump. However, the commerce ministry of second largest economy in the world restated that there are no ongoing talks between the two capital cities due to insincerity showed by Washington.