China revised its GDP for 2018 last Friday after conducting the fourth national economic census, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced. The number was increased by 2.1% to Rmb91.9tr ($13.1tr) from the originally calculated Rmb90tr.
The same kind of revisions have happened every time following a nationwide economic census. The GDP revisions in 2004, 2008 and 2013 – the past three economic census years– were 16.8%, 4.4% and 3.4% respectively, according to the NBS.
After the revision, the GDP output of the primary industry, which includes agriculture, forestry, fishing and animal husbandry, reached Rmb6.47tr, accounting for 7% of the total GDP. The output of the secondary industry, which is the industrial sector, was Rmb36.48tr. The output of the tertiary industry contributed to the remaining 53.3% of the GDP.
“The change in the size of 2018 GDP will not significantly influence the calculation for the 2019 growth rate,” the NBS said in a separate statement.
“The revision has three key effects,” Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura, wrote in a Friday note. “First, it helps Beijing to deliver on its target of doubling real GDP by 2020 from the 2010 levels. Second, it provides some leeway in Beijing’s determination of its 2020 growth target. Third, it may help to clarify what Beijing needs to do to deliver on its 2020 growth target.”
Lu added that Beijing will need to achieve an average annual real GDP growth of 6.2% in 2019 to deliver its goal to double the real GDP.
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The Chinese MoF will print a tap to its renminbi sovereign bonds in Hong Kong on Wednesday, according to a press release. The original Rmb4.5bn two tranche trade was sold in June. The sovereign bonds will be issued through the Central Moneymarkets Unit of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
A Rmb3.5bn tap will be made available to the market. The sovereign has appointed Bank of Communications Hong Kong branch as the issuing and lodging agent.
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Hong Kong held its district council election on Sunday. Pro-democracy candidates swept the poll, winning the majority of the seats. Roughly 71% of the city’s electorate participated in the election, a record turnout.
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The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission released draft rules for trust firms’ equity structure last Friday. The measures will be open to public opinion until December 22.
Specifically, the regulator removed the restriction that foreign financial institutions need to have at least $1bn in total assets should they want to acquire stakes in domestic trust firms.
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China trimmed the “negative” investment list, published by the National Development and Reform Commission, by 20 items to 131 items. The scrapped items include elderly care facilities, other social welfare services and firefighting technologies.
Additionally, for each item on the list, the regulators named the specific government agency responsible for granting market entry approval.
This list applies to both foreign and domestic investors.
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The higher weighting of 268 Chinese A-shares in the MSCI Emerging Markets Indexes is scheduled to become effective after the close of market on November 26. At the moment, the inclusion factor stands at 15%.
On Tuesday, an extra 204 A-shares will be included in the MSCI China Index. Among them, 189 stocks are mid-cap stocks.