China’s trade growth may have ground to a halt in January, fueling further concerns over the outlook for the world’s second largest economy.
Exports likely grew just 2 percent on-year in January, according a Reuters poll of economists, lower than the 4.3 percent climb recorded in December. Imports, meanwhile, are forecast to have risen an annual 3 percent, compared to an 8.3 percent gain in the previous month.
“China’s trade activity likely deteriorated in January. Despite the global economic recovery, exports have been slow to rebound,” Moody’s Analytics wrote in a report this week.
“Some of this is due to the stronger yuan, while some of it reflects distortions in the data due to past speculative inflows hidden in export receipts. The Lunar New Year also crimped activity,” it added.