CHINA-ECONOMY: CHINESE INVESTMENTS DROP TO 10-YEAR LOW
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Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao reported (December 31) that China saw its lowest level of overseas acquisitions in 2019, with a total value of US$41 billion. This is half the size of the 2018 volume and less than 20 percent of the volume for the peak year of 2016. The acquisitions in the U.S. declined by 80 percent in 2019, year-over-year. Analysts in the global banking industry expressed the belief that the sharp overseas acquisition decline was the direct result of the U.S.-China trade war and the significantly tightened government regulatory measures imposed in many countries against Chinese buyers. In the meantime, with the economic slow-down in China, the Chinese government is also strictly controlling the volume of capital flowing out of China, making Chinese investors work much harder than before to shrink the debt level. It is especially difficult for Chinese investors to pay back the debts acquired overseas. It is expected that more domestic investments will be seen in China than overseas.
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