时事资讯:制造业好转显示全球经济开始复苏_时事

时事资讯:制造业好转显示全球经济开始复苏

China's growth came close to a standstill in the fourth quarter of 2008, but the manufacturing sector has come well back from those depths. Activity has been boosted by a nearly unprecedented wave of lending from state banks coupled with a rapid public-investment program. A government survey of industrial firms last December found 15% had wholly or partially stopped producing; the latest official update, which looked at 170,000 factories, found that proportion had shrunk to 7.2% in June.

Government spending has led the way this year, but there are signs corporate investment is picking up as well. BOE Technology Group Co. and a consortium of other Chinese state-owned enterprises said last week they will spend $4.1 billion to build a major new liquid-crystal-display factory in Beijing. Yet investments from non-state companies have lagged, and the government admits the recovery won't be on solid ground until private-sector spending takes over the lead.

Confidence remains fragile, and some of the initial euphoria over the stimulus has already evaporated. Despite continued reassurances from the government, the Shanghai stock market declined 23% in August as investors fretted over a slowdown in the pace of bank lending. Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday again reiterated, in a meeting with World Bank President Robert Zoellick, that the government's economic policies won't change direction. 'Beijing still faces the difficult task of managing liquidity conditions to avoid a bubble -- or a bust,' said Brian Jackson, an economist for Royal Bank of Canada.