Thursday 11 December 2008

China's exports, FDI fall

There is no escaping the worldwide economic downturn. Not even for China. From Bloomberg on Wednesday:

China’s exports fell for the first time in seven years, more evidence that recessions in the U.S., Europe and Japan are driving the world’s fourth-largest economy into a slump.

Exports declined 2.2 percent in November from a year earlier, the customs bureau said in a statement on its Web site today. Imports plunged 17.9 percent, pushing the trade surplus to a record $40.09 billion.

Bloomberg also reported on Wednesday that producer price inflation is fast vanishing.

China’s producer-price inflation slowed to half the pace estimated by economists as commodity and energy costs fell, raising the possibility that the country will slide into deflation as demand wanes at home and abroad.

Prices at the factory gate rose 2 percent in November from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said today, after gaining 6.6 percent in October. That was the slowest pace in two years and less than the 4.5 percent median estimate of 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

And foreign direct investment is collapsing.

Foreign direct investment in China fell 36.5 percent in November from a year earlier, the commerce ministry said today, as economic growth cooled and gains by the yuan stalled against the dollar. Investment was $5.3 billion, the least in 14 months.

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