Everything You Missed In China This Weekend, Investors

The Chinese government unveiled its new five-year economic plan this weekend during its annual session of the national legislature. This year’s plan was highly-anticipated by investors around the world due to China’s recent growth slump and volatile equity markets and currency.

The headline number from this weekend’s plan was that China has set a GDP growth target range of between 6.5 and 7.0 percent. Last year’s growth rate of 6.9 percent was the lowest number the emerging market had posted in 25 years.

To meet its growth goals, China is prepared to expand its fiscal deficit ratio from 2.3 percent in 2015 to around 3.0 percent. M2 growth is set for around 13 percent.

In a new analyst note, Credit Suisse reports that the 13 percent M2 growth rate was in-line with the firm’s expectations but slightly higher than the 12 percent rate called for in the PBoC’ s original plan.

“This fits our call that the central bank is turning more accommodative as it attempts to stabilize the economy,” Credit Suisse notes.

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Others, such as economist and central bank advisor Yu Yongding, believe the plan is not as aggressive as it should be and the deficit ratio should be expanded to as high as 4.0 percent.

So far this year, the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (ETF) FXI is down 6.5 percent.

Disclosure: the author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.