StanChart bullish on China's growth outlook

Standard Chartered PLC is very sanguine on China's economic outlook over the medium to long term, while some downsides such as the sluggish property market are short-term and "normal" phenomena amid the country's ongoing economic transformation and upgrades, said Bill Winters, CEO of the financial major.

Winters said that China's financial opening-up creates valuable business opportunities and development dividends for the bank.

"We agree that the growth rate for China this year will be around 5 percent, and the economic data in the early part of the year is reassuring in that regard," he said, adding there are some negatives including subdued property investment and sales, but "electronics, the electric vehicle supply chain and everything in green tech are growing extremely fast".

His remarks came amid the country's efforts to stabilize economic growth through measures including expanding effective investment and fostering new quality productive forces, which led to better-than-expected January-February economic data.

The country's industrial output grew 7 percent year-on-year during the period, following a 6.8 percent rise in December. Fixed-asset investment increased 4.2 percent year-on-year during the same period, compared with 3 percent annual growth for 2023.

"We would expect that things that are growing at a negative rate would stabilize, and the new economy sectors, or the new quality productive forces, will continue to accelerate. So we're very optimistic about the Chinese economic outlook in the medium to long term," Winters said in Beijing before the two-day China Development Forum which wrapped up on Monday.

"The short-term pressures are real but will pass. Consumer confidence is beginning to come back. We're seeing that export volumes are beginning to recover. We see that the equity market is beginning to improve, too," he added.