A Chinese flag flies in front of a residential complex in Beijing on April 30, 2017.
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China’s economic recovery story has been largely disappointing, but the economic powerhouse is seeing meteoric growth in one particular sector, said Bill Winters of Standard Chartered.
“Electric vehicles and everything related to sustainability and renewable energy technology. In these areas, China is booming,” the bank’s CEO told CNBC’s Emily Tan on the sidelines of the Global Energy Summit on Tuesday. investment of financial managers.
Although China’s recovery is still “a little bumpy,” the country is also building a more resilient, sustainable and stronger economy, he said.
And his playbook? “Gradually decompress the old economy sectors and accelerate in the new economy sectors,” Winters added.
China has the world’s largest electric vehicle market with 5.9 million units sold in 2022, or 59% of electric vehicles sold worldwide, according to a Canalys study. Additionally, data from Counterpoint Research showed that national brands represent 81% of the electric vehicle market – with BYD, Wuling, Chery, Changan and GAC among the top players.
Conversely, the real estate market has been faced with loss of consumer confidence, while real estate giants Evergrande and Country Garden continue to be mired in debt problems.
Standard Chartered has reduced its exposure to China’s struggling real estate sector and is doing well in that market, Winters said. Although he said it is not prudent to establish a floor for China’s real estate market just yet, markets are “well into the second half of this real estate decompression.”
A residential complex built by Evergrande in Huai’an, Jiangsu, China, July 20, 2023.
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Last week, the UK-based bank announced that its pre-tax profit for the third quarter of this year had fallen 33%.
China’s post-Covid rebound has slowed since April. Another obstacle to the recovery is the real estate crisis which accelerated over the summer, despite the easing of restrictions on the purchase of apartments in many major cities.
That said, China remains an important market for the bank. Others include India, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong.
“Hong Kong is a key market for us. We’ve been here for almost 170 years. It’s our largest single market,” Winters continued.
Standard Chartered’s offshore business, with Hong Kong as its hub, is growing 50 to 60 percent a year, Winters said. “So it’s a huge growth story for us.”
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