Fitch affirms China’s rating at A+ with a stable outlook

BEIJING, Nov 21, (RTRS): Global credit rating agency Fitch Ratings affirmed China’s long term foreign currency rating at A+, saying it was supported by the nation’s ‘robust’ external finances and its strong macroeconomic performance.

Fitch’s outlook on China is stable, the rating agency said.

Meanwhile, Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China rose 6.6% from a year earlier to 752.41 billion yuan ($107.58 billion) in the first 10 months of the year, the commerce ministry said on Monday.

In October, FDI to China grew 7.4% from a year earlier to 69.2 billion yuan, the ministry said.

Foreign investment is expected to remain stable over the full year, said Zong Changqing, director of the department for foreign investment under the Ministry of Commerce, at a news briefing in Beijing on Monday.

Overall, China has not seen a largescale retreat of foreign investment, said Zong, when asked about companies moving production to other countries to avoid higher pressure brought about by tariffs.

China and the United States remain locked in a bruising trade war involving tariff hikes on billions of dollars worth of each other’s goods.

China needs to make better use of its various policy tools to boost the economy, Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday, as growth teetered near threedecade lows and a partial trade deal with the United States remained elusive.

Monetary policy needs to place more stress on developing the real economy, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, Li told reporters after a roundtable with World Bank and IMF chiefs. He said China will use “efforts through all channels” to lower real interest rates.

“Prime rate is a little bit over 4% for one year so we still have room to deal with monetary policy expansion,” said former central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan on Thursday at a separate event in Beijing.

The loan prime rate, China’s lending benchmark rate, was again lowered on Wednesday to reduce company funding costs and shore up an economy hurt by slowing demand and US trade tariffs.

China’s economy has maintained a stable performance this year and the government is confident that it will achieve the main social and economic targets for 2019, said Li.

Beijing will continue with a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy, he said.

Growth in the world’s second largest economy slowed more than expected to 6.0% year-on-year in the third quarter, the weakest pace in nearly 30 years.