China’s economy sealed its first full-year acceleration since 2010, underpinning global growth and giving authorities more room to purge excessive borrowing.
China’s rejuvenated expansion offers support for President Xi Jinping’s mission to defuse ticking debt bombs, one of Beijing’s top goals for the coming three years, along with reducing poverty and curbing pollution. Policy makers have picked the moment well, as the global upswing provides support in the form of strong demand for the nation’s exports.
"The macro environment, with relatively mild inflationary pressure and fairly decent growth momentum, is very favorable to pushing reforms further ahead," Raymond Yeung, chief greater China economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Hong Kong, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.
In housing, data released Thursday show prices rose in the most cities in six months even as the government prolonged its campaign to curb speculation. New-home prices, excluding government-subsidized housing, in December rose in 57 of 70 cities tracked by the government, compared with 50 in November, the NBS said.
Premier Li Keqiang said earlier this month that the 2017 expansion was about 6.9 percent, citing better-than-expected exports, fiscal revenue, household income and corporate profits. Consumption, which includes some government spending, is becoming an ever-stronger pillar of the economy, contributing 58.8 percent to growth last year.
Article source: Bloomberg.com