Abroad, the pressure on China to revalue its currency, the renminbi, is strengthening, and it seems sure to intensify after trade statistics released Sunday showed that China's yearlong downturn in export growth reversed in December.
The survey signalled the largest downturn in export orders since the start of 2013, and the fifth decline in the past seven months, highlighting how the appreciation of sterling – notably against the euro – is hitting competitiveness abroad.
Beijing authorities plan rapid increases in economic stimulus spending in Guangdong to offset the downturn in exports here.
But he warned that the economy faced numerous challenges, including the need for the United States to deal with its own domestic debt and a possible downturn in exports to Europe.
The downturn in exports, to $83.7 billion in July from $85.9 billion in June, was broad based, with capital goods, industrial material and supplies, and automobiles and parts showing the largest declines.
A survey of economists had predicted a 0.1% drop in GDP in the fourth quarter, though several prominent analysts had forecast a bigger contraction after a series of surveys last year showed the manufacturing industry suffering from a downturn in exports.
Financial data provider Markit, which carried out the survey, said manufacturers had blamed slower growth in the UK and a downturn in new export orders alongside "rising uncertainty about the global economy, the oil and gas industry, retail sector and the EU referendum".
Almost 80 percent of the seized counterfeit goods in the United States last year were produced in China, where the downturn in legitimate exports during the recession left many factories looking for goods — in some cases, any goods — to produce.
HONG KONG — Stock markets fell sharply in early trading on Monday in Asia on growing fears about the health of banks around the world and the prospects for a downturn in Asian exports to the weakening economies of the United States and Europe.
At the beginning of the global trading day, Asian markets were hit by fears that weakening economies in the United States and Europe would increase the chances of a downturn in Asian exports.
The global financial crisis of 2008 and resulting economic downturn in 2009 stalled export demand and put Switzerland in a recession.
