China business sentiment falls to lowest level in eight years

The outlook for business conditions in China over the next three months fell to a record low in February, according to the MNI China Business Indicator.

A tightening of credit to companies, among other factors, drove expectations over that time period to the lowest level since March 2007, when Deutsche Börse Group began conducting the survey.

The sentiment on current business conditions also deteriorated for the second consecutive month in February, with the MNI indicator falling to 52.8 from 53.7 in January.

“Following some resilience towards the end of last year, the deterioration seen across most indicators in our survey since the start of 2015 points to a difficult year ahead,” said MNI Indicators chief economist Philip Uglow.

In an attempt to ease liquidity conditions on the mainland, the central bank in November cut its benchmark interest rate and this month lowered the amount of reserves that commercial banks are required to set aside.

The MNI report said the liquidity released by the central bank had yet to find its way to the companies it surveyed, most of which are mainland-listed manufacturers and service providers.