China’s Central Bank Ready to Tackle ‘Profound’ Economic Changes

(Bloomberg) -- China’s central bank said the global outlook is worsening and that it’ll tweak its policy in a sign that trade tensions with the U.S. are hurting the world’s second-largest economy.

“External conditions are undergoing profound changes, downward pressures are increasing, some companies are seeing more difficulties in their operations, risks accumulated over the long term are being exposed,” the People’s Bank of China said in its quarterly monetary-policy report published late Friday. The bank will “preemptively adjust and fine-tune policies according to the changing conditions.”

Key Insights

• The PBOC vowed to make its policies more “targeted” as well as forward-looking and flexible
• While sticking to what it calls “prudent and neutral” policy, the PBOC omitted a previous phrase in its policy outlook that had said it was “firmly against flood-like strong stimulus”
• The central bank will boost financial institutions’ support to small and micro enterprises, private enterprises
• The PBOC sees trade frictions leading to relatively big uncertainties for China’s future exports
• The central bank reiterates that it will firmly curb any increase in “hidden debts”

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• China’s exports have grown robustly all year, propped up by strong global demand and the difficulty of quickly shifting supply chains even as trade tensions with Washington deepen
• But the sugar hit may not last. A record 18.3 percent decline in Japan’s core machine orders in September provided evidence Thursday that trade tensions and cooling global demand are already taking a toll on some activity in the region. A continuing drop in car sales in China indicates the domestic economy is weakening too
• For the full statement (in Chinese), click here

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