Urban Chinese were increasingly unhappy with price levels in the third quarter, including the cost of housing, but were more optimistic about job prospects, according to a central bank survey released on Thursday. Businesses reported that both domestic and export orders improved compared with the second quarter, but their demand for loans weakened, according to a separate quarterly survey.
By contrast, consumer demand for credit strengthened, the People's Bank of China said. The survey also showed that Chinese urban residents intended to cut savings and to invest and spend more. China has become a major engine of world growth and when leaders of the world's biggest economies meet in Pittsburgh later on Thursday, the US agenda will be topped by a plea for co-ordinated policies to even out the imbalances between export powerhouses such as China and the deeply indebted United States. The Chinese central bank's survey of residents showed 49 percent were satisfied with their current income, up 3.1 percentage points for the first rise since the second half of 2007.
On job prospects, 50.9 percent of residents reported that they were optimistic in the third quarter, up from 48.2 percent in the second quarter, the central bank said. Satisfaction with consumer prices fell to 29.5 percent of residents in the third quarter, slightly down from 30.1 percent in the previous survey. The business confidence index rose to 58.1 percent in the latest survey, up from 56 percent in the previous one, the central bank said.
The index measuring domestic and export orders rose to 49.2 percent and 47.2 percent in the third quarter, up, respectively, from 48.1 percent and 45.1 percent in the second quarter. Meanwhile, companies' cash flows and sales revenues all improved in the third quarter, according to the business survey. The corporate profit index also rose to 53.8 percent in the third quarter, up from 50.8 percent in the previous three months, the central bank said.
A separate survey of bankers showed that they were more confident about China's economic outlook, with the overall index rising to 55.4 percent from 40 percent three months earlier. The central bank said 55.9 percent of bankers it surveyed expected monetary policy to remain unchanged in the coming quarter, down from 57.4 percent who expected a steady monetary stance in the previous survey.