Recent drops in China's equity market and the yuan will neither hurt economic growth nor send the country into a financial crisis, a Bloomberg economist said, as concerns mount over the market.
"China's growth is not collapsing," Tom Orlik told Xinhua in an email on Tuesday. "Equity markets have little impact on the real economy and a weaker yuan is positive for growth, boosting export competitiveness."
Orlik's remarks came after Chinese shares experienced a loosing streak last week and the yuan dipped to a five-year low against the greenback, affecting sentiment of the already slowing economy.
However, Orlik pointed out that China's market moves and economic fundamentals have always been independent, calling them "distant relatives" that appeared "increasingly divorced" in early 2016.
The latest growth data is stable, and expectations for 2016 growth are unchanged, with the forecast for GDP growth steady at 6.5 percent, he said.
Chinese shares appeared to stabilize on Tuesday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up slightly by 0.2 percent. The yuan also started to edge up in offshore markets.
Orlik also dismissed concerns that China is plunging into a financial crisis. "There's the view that the crisis that started in the U.S. in 2007 and spread to Europe in 2010 has now arrived in China. That's wrong."
Capital outflows have accelerated, but foreign-exchange reserve coverage remains ample, he said. Credit growth continues to outpace GDP, but there is no trigger for that to unwind. Low and stable interbank rates are a reminder that the central bank has resources to fend off threats.
