China’s top banker names US Fed policy and Brexit as biggest risks to global growth
- Central Bank governor Yi Gang predicts a slowdown and widening differences in regional growth
- Speech delivered at high-level meeting of German and Chinese policymakers in Beijing
The trade war was not mentioned by China’s central bank governor on Friday when he gave his picks for the biggest risks to the global economy this year.
Instead, Yi Gang, speaking at the second China-Germany High Level Financial Dialogue in Beijing, nominated the US Federal Reserve’s policy trajectory and Britain’s plan to leave the European Union.
Yi also predicted a slowdown in the global economy in 2019, with widening differences in regional growth performance.
“There are a few major uncertainties [in the global economy] and the first one is that the path for US Federal Reserve interest rate increases has entered an uncertain period,” he told a gathering of bankers and policymakers from the two countries.
“Expectations on [future Fed policy moves] have changed quite significantly compared to previous views.”
The outlook for Brexit was also a major uncertainty for global growth, Yi said, before journalists were escorted out of the room. It is unknown whether the trade war was mentioned in the closed-door portion of his speech.
The dialogue was co-chaired by German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He, and concluded a two days of meetings aimed at strengthening financial cooperation between the two countries.
Liu, who will fly to Washington for trade talks at the end of this month, also spoke at the forum but did not mention the trade war or trade disputes either.