Red Star News:

In recent months, China's manufacturing PMI has continued to decline. In September, the PMI was 49.6%, which was 0.5 percentage points lower than the previous month and below the threshold. What caused this? Is it related to industrial raw material prices and recent energy shortages? Will it have an adverse impact on the national economy? What are the expectations for the future? Thank you.

Fu Linghui:

Thank you for your questions. It should be said that the recent decline in manufacturing PMI is the result of multiple factors at home and abroad. From the international perspective, the recovery of the world economy is slowing down, the prices of international commodities have risen sharply, and the tension in international shipping will inevitably affect the expectations of domestic companies. From the domestic perspective, due to the impact of the pandemic resurgence and floods in some regions in July and August, some long-term accumulated structural problems have appeared, which will also affect business expectations.

Although the manufacturing PMI declined in September, the overall outlook for the development prospects of enterprises remained stable. We can see that in the manufacturing PMI in September, the expected index of enterprise production and operation activities was 56.4%, which is still at a relatively high level. As for the future, the fundamentals of the long-term improvement of China's economy have not changed. The overall plan for pandemic prevention and control and economic and social development have been solidly promoted. The cross-cycle adjustment of macro policies has been effectively implemented. Policies supporting the development of the real economy have continued to be effective. Enterprises' expectations should stabilize. Thank you.