Investment prospects for a re-emergent China: An investor’s port in the storm?
Download a PDF of this articleAs the first to suffer the shock of the COVID-19 crisis, China is showing signs of being the first to emerge into recovery. The hard-hit city of Wuhan led the return to normality as it laid on a midnight light show, celebrating its reopening after nearly three months of lockdown. Meanwhile, April has seen President Xi Jinping symbolically forgo a surgical mask on his customary provincial visits, as state-controlled media portrays a China hurrying back to work.
Around the world markets have ground to a halt amid projections that we are entering the worst recession since the Great Depression. Longer-sighted investors may be looking to diversify, or just to learn what the future might hold. China appears to offer a potential answer given that it is entering the ‘recovery’ stage. However, it is still unclear how a full recovery will develop in reality. At a time when even many of the world’s most sure-fire investments are in rough waters, could Chinese markets offer a safe harbour to weary investors? In a state-managed economy such as China’s, this not only depends directly on its economic health, but also on what steps the Government is taking to revive it.
