Over the past year Beijing has been caught between sticking to restrictive policies to achieve a ‘soft landing’ and switching gears to deal with the repercussions of the eurozone crisis. The cut in China’s bank reserve ratio by 50 basis points, which came as a surprise to some, signals that the risks of a major economic slowdown are now of greater concern than an overheated economy. Data showing that Chinese manufacturing activity contracted last month for the first time in almost three years only added to those fears.
在過去一年里,中國政府一直面臨著兩難的政策選擇——是恪守偏緊的政策以實現“軟著陸”,還是改弦易轍以應對歐元區危機的沖擊?中國將銀行存款準備金率下調了50個基點,這出乎某些人的意料。此舉表明,中國政府現在更擔憂的是經濟可能大幅下滑,而不是經濟過熱。數據顯示,中國制造業活動在上月出現將近3年來的首次收縮,這一事實更是加重了上述擔憂。