China posts strong economic data numbers - Rabobank

In view of the analysts at Rabobank, the latest barrage of Chinese numbers are, in a word, ‘unbelievable’.

Key Quotes

“Retail sales were up 10.9% y-o-y, much more than expected; fixed investment was up 9.2% y-o-y, much more than expected; industrial production was up 7.6% y-oy, much more than expected; and Q1 GDP was up 6.9% y-o-y, higher than expected. That’s on the back of the 16.4% y-o-y gain in exports in March we saw last week. Oh yes, and total aggregate financing (i.e., borrowing) was up CNY2,120bn (USD308bn) in the month too, vastly more than expected.”

“First of all these data are unbelievable in the sense that when you break the rosy numbers down they appear out of step with what many are still experiencing on the ground (for example, see what is happening with Hongqiao aluminium); and they are also unbelievable in the sense that we are again watching the global economy and supposedly rational financial markets base their hopes for the future on an unsustainable and staggeringly-dangerous borrowing/asset bubble.”