Economy-trackers are highlighting facts and figures to indicate that the Chinese economy is entering 2017 on a strong footing, eclipsing last year’s tepid data that roiled financial markets.

For instance, the Purchasing Managers’ Index or PMI jumped to a more than two-year high of 51.7 in November, beating economists’ expectations, while a measure of non-manufacturing sectors of construction and consumer services hit its highest mark since mid-2014.

More glad tidings are coming from the energy industry, especially its renewable power segment, innovation, pharmaceuticals, overseas mergers and acquisitions, and measures like supply-side reforms (to reduce excess industrial capacity and shed unviable assets) and the Belt and Road Initiative.

To prevent money from pouring into speculative bubbles like equities and property, Beijing has prioritized the real economy as a major drive for sustainable and healthy economic growth, according to the Central Economic Conference in December that set the tone for economic development in 2017.

These are now seen as positives that could well outweigh concerns like capital outflows, a depreciating currency and rising labor costs.

Agreed Gao Qiang, general manager of Shanghai Ruijia Industry Co Ltd, an electric tools maker. He expects the New Year to be decisive for the company and the Chinese economy.

Ruijia began destocking its alternative current or AC-powered gardening tools, which represented 90 percent of its inventory, late last year. Instead, it began focusing on new-energy technologies. The efforts are beginning to pay off.

‘Customers from the US and Europe flocked to the company’s booth, steering clear of AC-powered tools and checking prices of tools adopting new-energy technologies,’ said Gao upon his return from the China Import and Export Fair in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, in November, the country’s largest trade event.

Source: The Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China