China’s economy may have slipped down the global worry list, but significant risks remain, including an abrupt end to a massive credit boom or an overly aggressive policy response if inflation should speed up, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
While a hard landing isn’t the New York-based bank’s base case for 2017 — it expects only a modest slowdown — economists warn that a push to rein in cheap loans will weigh on key sectors such as housing. Officials are trying to keep a lid on frothy house prices without harming the wider economy, where growth remains heavily reliant on government spending.
The scale of the lending boom was laid bare in data Tuesday showing China added more credit in January than the equivalent of Swedish or Polish economic output, fueling worries about the spree’s sustainability. Aggregate financing, the broadest measure of new credit, climbed to a record 3.74 trillion yuan ($545 billion). Despite the headline number, the growth of total credit continues to ease moderately, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
Source: Bloomberg (15 February 2017)