However, the property sector wasn’t at the centre of a generally optimist outlook for the country’s booming economy for 2010 from the country’s central bank.
The People’s Bank of China’s head, Zhou Xiaochuan, said China says it won’t be easing its stimulus or current monetary policy until it sees a stronger global outlook.
However the bank and government expects the country’s trade surplus to fall as the year goes on after the sharp contraction in the March quarter and the deficit in March.
That will be due to rising demand from offshore and continuing strong domestic demand for imported raw materials.
And while property was mentioned indirectly, there was no mention of the most delicate of all questions: the value of the currency and the pressure China is taking to revalue from the US, Europe, the IMF and even fellow BRIC members, Brazil and India.
But while the property crackdown is growing, China says it will maintain its “proactive” fiscal measures and its “relatively easy” monetary policy for as long as the global economic recovery remains tentative.
China will continue with “stable and relatively rapid” growth this year, while balancing “inflation expectations” Zhou said.
The central government projects gross domestic product growth of about 8% (the official target) and inflation of 3% this year, Zhou said.
Inflation was 2.4% in the year to March, growth in the first quarter was 11.9%, or 12.2% quarter on quarter, according to figures released in Beijing over the weekend by the central bank.
The People’s Bank of China said domestic growth (GDP) had accelerated to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 12.2% in the March quarter from 11.3% in the December quarter of 2009.
The National Bureau of Statistics, which said that March quarter growth was an annual 11.9%, doesn’t publish quarter-on-quarter data.
After adjusting for seasonal factors, exports have basically recovered to the pre-crisis level and imports have hit record highs, the report said.
"Consumer prices are basically stable, money and credit controls have shown initial results and the trend of economic recovery has been further solidified," the central bank said.
Moreover, it added statistics indicate that "in the future the economy will continue in a good direction".
“We will continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and a relatively easy monetary policy, and will continuously improve the policy package to respond to the international financial crisis to maintain good momentum of the economic recovery,” Zhou said in a statement released at an International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington.
“The outlook for the global economy faces many uncertainties.”
Zhou made no specific comment on China’s foreign-exchange policy in the statement. China has maintained its currency unchanged since July 2008, prompting some US lawmakers to accuse Beijing of keeping the currency artificially cheap to gain an export edge.
Zhou urged developed nations to “restore fiscal discipline as quickly as possible” to contain “sovereign risk” and avoid “contagion”. He argued that higher deficits in developed nations and uncertainty about the end of stimulus measures are the major risks to the global economy.
“The primary risks to the global economy come from developed countries,” Zhou said.
Developing nations with faster growth rates “need to consolidate good recovery momentum while also preventing the accumulation of asset bubbles, requiring timely consideration of exit from stimulus policies”, Zhou added.
And the central bank also said the country’s trade surplus this year will fall from the 2009 level despite a recovery in foreign trade.
Higher orders from offshore would push export growth above 20% this quarter, with imports remaining high because of rising prices and high levels of demand for things like iron ore and oil.
"Exports have returned to pre-crisis levels and imports have hit all-time highs after seasonal adjustments," it said.
The report said China still faced deteriorating trade conditions with rising trade protectionism and the unstable global economic recovery.
China’s trade surplus was $US196 billion in 2009.
March saw the first monthly trade deficit in six years, with exports at $US112.11 billion (up 24%) and imports jumping 66% to $US119.35 billion.
The bank said it would continue to strengthen liquidity management and keep an "appropriate" growth of money supply, so as to maintain stable prices and strike a balance between maintaining economic growth, adjusting the economic development model and avoiding inflation risks.
