SUMMARY
On May 30, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that China’s GDP enjoyed a 6.8% growth in the first quarter. However, the IMF currently predicts decreasing growth, down to 6.6%, due to the Sino-American trade friction’s potential impact on the country’s trade. Currently, Beijing continues to implement policies that encourage smaller businesses to invest and continue its economic reform in order to improve future growth. The goals of the proposed reforms are to transform China from a manufacturing economy to service-based economy. As a result, China will likely focus on support small business domestically and service trade internationally.
FAO GLOBAL ASSESSMENT
When China started its economic reform nearly four years ago, many factories moved to Southeast Asia and India. Even though China’s economy enjoyed a significant amount of growth this quarter, it will be difficult for many western firms to enter into the Chinese market without substantial financial resources, especially while the current United States-China trade dispute is underway. Companies looking to China should closely monitor the trade situation between Washington and Beijing before making any hard commitments as well as to expand their professional networks in China to identify on-ground opportunities in real time.
Related Links
- Reuters: China shows faster pace of economic restructuring, but still relying on credit: Moody's
- Reuters: IMF maintains China's 2018 GDP growth forecast at 6.6 percent
- South China Morning Post: Cutting corporate debt will drag China’s economic growth down to 4.5 per cent, says Fitch
- Xinhua: China's service trade continues to grow
Analyst Bio
Ziqing Zhang- International Policy Associate
Ziqing “Sunny” Zhang is an international policy intern and a Masters student in the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington where she is majoring in Asian Studies with a concentration in international development and focusing on East Asia and development in Southeast Asia. A native Chinese speaker, Ziqing is fluent in both Mandarin and Cantonese as well as English. She has previously interned at the U.S.-China Education Trust, the Japan-American Society of Washington, DC, and is an alum of American University in Washington, DC.
Custom Intelligence Briefs are available for corporate account holders. We can provide daily or weekly updates on local market conditions, policy impacts, regional events, or industry changes that affect operations or strategy.
ABOUT CHINA INTELLIGENCE BRIEFS
The China Intelligence Briefs are the start of a global initiative to provide context and recommendations to businesses, non-profit organizations, and policy makers who are looking for specific examples of opportunity or disruption from global events. While analyzing the macro problems we often identify specific issues that affect our clients and readers. Identifying both opportunities & challenges allow us to better identify solutions at home and abroad for a wide range of disciplines. In addition to the China Intelligence Briefs, we maintain detailed notes from interviews, overseas trips & business missions, conferences, conventions, and private events. We provide access to these notes and other analytical products for clients and paid subscribers.
Headquartered in Washington, DC with Affiliates in China
Our Analysts, Associates, Consultants, and Interns all possess extensive experience in a foreign country and a foreign language capability. Our talent pool includes graduates from the elite Tsinghua University in Beijing, Georgetown University, George Washington University, UC Berkeley, and University of South Carolina. Being based in the Washington, DC Metro Area provides our team the advantage to build relationships with policy makers, foreign diplomats, business leaders, and non-profit groups providing a holistic view of global policy and the impacts to the business community. In addition to being based in the Washington, DC area, we retain the input and advice from affiliates located in China. This allows us to maintain on-ground awareness of changing business and political environment conditions and facilitate client projects between the two countries and the greater Asia continent.
All Intelligence Briefs are reviewed and guided by a Senior Analyst before publication.