China's New, Self-Propelled Economy

A few months ago, we mentioned James Kynge's 'China Continental' thesis. In that post, we excerpted an essay Kynge had written in the Financial Times explicating his thesis for China's continuing growth in the wake of declining exports. This was the excerpt we quoted from Kynge's essay:

China is going continental. Just as the US during the 19th century underwent a transition from export-oriented growth to a greater reliance on inner dynamism, so China is looking inwards for the engine to drive its economy.

In China’s case it is still early days, but evidence suggests the conventional view of an export-dependent, river delta-driven economy no longer matches the reality. The argument here is not that trade has somehow become unimportant to China, but rather that the energy generating the world’s fastest economic growth rate this year is increasingly coming from within.

A series of indicators reveals the shift to “China Continental” – the transition of the world’s most populous country into an increasingly self-propelling economic force.

A couple of items that appeared earlier this week in the Financial Times suggest that Kynge's thesis may have been correct. This item from Monday's Lex column, "China's Stimulus" is one, and Martin Wolf's column from Monday's FT, "Wheel of fortune turns as China outdoes west", is another. Here are a couple of brief excerpts from both.

Lex:

There is no precise breakdown of stimulus spending by geography. But $366bn falls under the heading of infrastructure and post-quake recovery; another $113bn under public housing and rural development. Only a small slice – $54bn to stimulate “technological innovation” – seems to explicitly favour developed regions. Output in 12 western provinces grew an average 8 per cent in the first half – a whole percentage point better than 11 provinces in the east.

This structural shift was evident in first-half figures from ICBC, China’s largest commercial lender. Its year-on-year percentage increase in operating income in the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas fell, but rose in central and western regions. In short, China would rather finance roads in Chengdu than sweatshops in Guangdong. Many private, export-led companies in coastal areas, lacking collateral in the form of land or government relationships, are still struggling for funds. Trade data on Friday showed exports and imports falling for the 10th month, year-on-year. Weak external demand is not the only cause; this is an unabashed internalisation of growth.

Martin Wolf:

China has emerged as the most significant winner from the financial and economic crisis. At the end of 2008, many questioned whether China would achieve its growth target of 8 per cent in 2009. Who now dares to do so?

Cushioned by its more than $2,100bn (€1,440bn, £1,260bn) of foreign currency reserves, huge trade and current account surpluses and a robust fiscal position, Beijing has been able to deploy all its levers over the financial system and the economy.

[...]

Three immediate questions arise. How has China responded to the crisis? Is its resurgent growth sustainable? How far will its recovery help the world economy?

The answer to the first question is: astonishingly. According to data reported at the end of last week, industrial output expanded 12.3 per cent in the 12 months to August, up from a 10.8 per cent increase in July. This is the fastest growth for a year.

[...]

Is this growth surge sustainable? In a word, yes. Inevitably, the torrid growth of bank credit and money is spilling over into asset prices, particularly equities. But there is little danger of excessive inflation in an economy with an appreciating currency, fully embedded in a world economy still threatened more by deflation than by inflation, at least in the near term. Moreover, the government is solvent. As premier Wen Jiabao noted in Dalian, "we . . . kept budget deficit and government debt at around 3 per cent and 20 per cent of the GDP respectively". Should bad loans increase, China is well able to recapitalise its financial system.

This is good news, of course, for companies selling raw materials to China, for vendors to those companies (e.g., Alloy Steel International), and, more broadly, for countries such as Australia and Brazil that export significant amounts of raw materials to China.