- Supported by rising household incomes and improving external demand, economic growth in China remained strong at 6.9 percent in the first three quarters of 2017.
- The economic resilience has been reflected in relatively high job creation, with almost 11 million net new jobs available in January-September 2017.
- The country has also gained reform momentum by introducing policies and regulations aimed at reducing macroeconomic imbalances and limiting financial risks.
- In response, growth in total credit to the non-financial sector has moderated, in particular in the non-bank financial market.
- In 2016-2017, important measures addressed some of the earlier implementation challenges of the reform of local government debt management as part of the 2014 Budget Law revision.
- This issue of the China Economic Update also takes stock of the successes and remaining challenges of the ongoing pension system reform.
- GDP growth is expected to decelerate to 6.4 percent in 2018 and 6.3 percent in 2019 mainly because of domestic policy tightening.