Tom Orlik, Columnist

It's Time to Hit Pause on China Panic

Credit is still expanding, but on a more sustainable trajectory.

March 16, 2017 at 12:45 AM UTC

Tom Orlik is the chief economist for Bloomberg Economics. He’s the author of “Understanding China’s Economic Indicators,” a guide to China’s economic data. He’s based in Washington, DC, following more than a decade in Beijing.

The numbers are looking better.
Photographer: Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images

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China’s National People’s Congress, which concluded on Wednesday, didn’t do much to ease the main worry about the world’s second-biggest economy: its large and growing pile of debt. In fact, to keep GDP growth ticking over at 6.5 percent or more, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged a 12 percent expansion in credit this year. That implies about $2.7 trillion in new lending – larger than the U.K.’s GDP.

QuickTake China's Pain Points