3. Entering great moderation with optimism

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1 Dec-12 Jun-13 Dec-13 Jun-14 Dec-14 Jun-15 Dec-15 Jun-16 Dec-16 Jun-17 Dec-17 Jun-18 Dec-18 Jun-19 Dec-19 Jun-20 Dec-20 Jun-21 Dec-21 Dec-12 Jun-13 Dec-13 Jun-14 Dec-14 Jun-15 Dec-15 Jun-16 Dec-16 Jun-17 Dec-17 Jun-18 Dec-18 Jun-19 Dec-19 Jun-20 Dec-20 Jun-21 Dec Entering great moderation with optimism Some upward revision of short-run GDP China s growth has exhibited some new developments in the second half of 2017 and the final GDP growth outturn is actually better-than-expected. However, signs of moderation emerged in the 2H of 2017 due to a number of policy tightening including monetary prudence, regulatory efforts to curb shadow banking activities and overheating property market. On the other hand, these policy initiatives have helped to mitigate several tail risks to the economy and financial stability, increasing the likelihood of a soft-landing scenario for the world s second largest economy. Accordingly, we raise our 2018 growth forecast to 6.3% from 6% previously and maintain 2019 forecasting at 6%, reflecting the strong 2017 growth and mitigated financial risks. However, they are still somewhat lower than the market consensus (Bloomberg consensus: 6.5% for 2018 and 6.2% for 2019). Nevertheless, we anticipate that the authorities broadly maintain the policy mix in the next couple of years over the concern of financial stability. In addition, we believe that the growth will be mainly driven by domestic consumption this year. Specifically, we predict consumption will contribute to around 4.5% (versus: 4.1% in 2017) for GDP growth, dominating investment s contribution of 1.6% (versus: 2.2% in 2017) and net export s contribution at 0.2% (versus: 0.5% in 2017). Regarding inflation, we remain our 2018 monthly average projection of CPI at 2% in 2018 and 2.3% in 2019 (Bloomberg: 2.3% for 2018 and 2.2% for 2019) due to lower-than-expected food prices in the last year (Figure 3.2). Looking ahead, the CPI and PPI will finally converge in the long term. CPI is expected to trend up gradually after the food-prices rebound from the current low level. Meanwhile, the PPI will gradually slow its pace as the supply-side reform proceeds. That being said, supply-side shocks caused by overcapacity elimination are likely to have diminishing marginal impact on price levels as investors gradually factor it into their expectations. Figure 3.1 We have raised our 2018 GDP forecast to 6.3% from 6% previously y /y % 10.0% 9.0% 8.0% 7.0% 6.0% 5.0% 4.0% Forecast Figure 3.2 We keep our CPI forecast at 2% for 2018 and 2.3% for 2019 y /y % Forecast Source: BBVA Research and CEIC Baseline GDP growth Source: BBVA Research and CEIC Baseline CPI growth China Economic Outlook / 1 st Quarter

2 Mild currency depreciation will continue with a measured pace The recent strong performance of the RMB has made us revise our projections of the exchange rate in the short term, mainly in the pace but not in the direction. We anticipate that the exchange rate will depreciate to 6.6 at end-2018 from end-2017 outturn at 6.5 with a very mild pace. Such a trajectory means a relatively stable value against the CFETS currency basket, which has become the important anchor of the RMB given that the authorities still need a competitive export sector to offset any negative shock to the economy in the course of policy tightening. (Table 3.1) At the same time, the weak US dollar has given China s authorities more room to introduce more two-way movements to the RMB exchange rate. That being said, the volatility of USDCNY is set to rise this year. We believe that a clean float remains the authorities ultimate goal of exchange rate reform. The floating of the RMB might take place in the second half of 2019, which could make the exchange rate overshoot to 7.4 during a short period but ultimately go back to its long-term equilibrium level of around 6.8. Table 3.1 Baseline Scenario (F) 2019 (F) 2020 (F) 2021 (F) GDP (%, YoY) Inflation (average, %) Fiscal balance (% of GDP) Current account (% of GDP) Policy rate (%) Exchange rate (CNY/USD) Monetary and fiscal policy outlook A combination of a prudent monetary policy with tightening bias and a fiscal easing is predicted to be the main framework of the macro policy in A prudent monetary policy is consistent with the authorities emphasis on maintaining financial stability and curtailing the rising risks in housing bubbles, debt overhang and shadow banking activities. At the same time, more regulations on shadow banking and the property sector are expected to be unveiled on top of those in place, which could lead to an additional tightening of credit conditions and weigh on growth. Corresponding to the US interest rate hike in 2018, we do not think the PBoC will follow to increase the benchmark lending rate and deposit rate. This is because the current RMB exchange rate and low inflation environment do not urgently require an interest rate hike. Moreover, as the financial deleveraging is continuing, the market interest rate has a tendency to be high, which lowers the urgent need for interest rate hike in China. On the other hand, considering the capital flight risk due to the US interest rate hike, as China still has a closed capital account, the authorities could apply various regulatory measures to control capital outflows. China Economic Outlook / 1 st Quarter

3 Under the framework of monetary policy tightening, some unconventional monetary instruments will also be implemented, in order to maintain liquidity in the banking sector. For instance, Standing Lending Facilities (SLF) and Medium-term Lending Facilities (MLF) will continue to be applied. Based on the international experience, the central bank is likely to control the short-term interest rate and let the market determine the yield curve. Thus, we predict that more short-term liquidity tools (such as SLF and 7-day pledged repo rates) might be implemented as against the medium-term or long-term tools (such as MLF). Contrast with the prudent monetary policy, pro-growth fiscal policy initiatives have to be deployed to sustain growth throughout the year. Although the authorities announced a conservative fiscal budget deficit of -3.0% (compared with our -3.5% prediction) for 2018, we believe that the final deficit will be larger if we take into account adjustments for some extra-budget items. To correspond to the recent US large-scale tax cuts, the authorities seemingly aspire to cut tax accordingly, such as lowering payroll tax, etc. The influences of US tax cuts might trigger capital outflow and repatriation of profits to the US, also, it will strengthen the USD and put the depreciation pressure on RMB. Thus, we believe the corresponding tax cut in China is not avoidable. China will enter Great Moderation period in the long term We attempt to gauge China s potential GDP till 2035 using traditional Cobb-Douglas production function by forecasting total factor productivity (A), labor (L) and capital formation (K). In our model, we set the capital share at 34% while the 1 labor share is 66%. We calculate the potential output according to the formula y* A* L* K *, where A*, L* and K* are the Hodrick-Prescott filtered value of total factor productivity (TFP), labor and capital formation. As the Chinese economy is set to shift from investment-driven to consumption-driven growth, we predict the capital growth will decelerate from 9.5% this year to 4% in At the same time, the aging population will unavoidably slow labor growth over the medium-long term. As such, we assume a flat labor supply from now to 2030 and afterwards, the labor supply will grow with an average rate at -0.2% between 2030 and 2035 (among which, labor supply is defined as working age population*participation rate*(1-unemployment rate)). We expect that the TFP will become the main driver of China s growth in the long term, although at the current stage, growth is more likely driven by capital accumulation. Nevertheless, the TFP level will broadly maintain its long-term trend and closer to the last two decades productivity growth. Based on our assumptions above, the potential GDP growth will gradually moderate from the current level of 6.5% to 5.1% in 2025 and then to 4.1% in If China s growth track can follow its potential GDP we estimated above, it means that the economy will enter a period of Great Moderation over the next two decades as we had seen in US and other advanced countries during the 20 years in the run-up of the Global Financial Crisis. Just like its precedent in advanced countries, this Chinese version of Great Moderation features in: (i) marked reduction in the volatility of business cycle fluctuations, especially the output and inflation; (ii) a protracted period of a slower but sustainable economic growth with economic rebalancing in contrast to the current credit-fuelled growth; and (iii) a lower degree of intervention in the economy. China Economic Outlook / 1 st Quarter

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7 This report has been produced by the China Unit Chief Economist for USA Le Xia Jinyue Dong Betty Huang Sumedh Deorukhkar BBVA Research Group Chief Economist Jorge Sicilia Serrano Macroeconomic Analysis Rafael Doménech Financial Systems & Regulation Santiago Fernández de Lis Spain & Portugal Miguel Cardoso South America Juan Manuel Ruiz Global Macroeconomic Scenarios Miguel Jiménez Global Financial Markets Sonsoles Castillo Global Modelling & Long Term Analysis Julián Cubero Innovation & Processes Oscar de las Peñas Countries Coordination Olga Cerqueira Digital Regulation Álvaro Martín Regulation Financial Systems Ana Rubio Financial Inclusion United States of America Nathaniel Karp Mexico Carlos Serrano Turkey, China & Geopolitics Álvaro Ortiz Turkey Álvaro Ortiz China Le Xia Argentina Gloria Sorensen Chile Jorge Selaive Colombia Juana Téllez Peru Hugo Perea Venezuela Julio Pineda FOR ANY QUERIES< PLEASE APPLY TO: BBVA Research: Calle Azul, 4. Edificio de la Vela - 4ª y 5ª plantas Madrid, Spain. Tel and / Fax bbvaresearch@bbva.com China Economic Outlook / 1 st Quarter