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ECONOMIC REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

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Figure 2-45<br />

Credit to Nonfinancial Sector (Public and Private), 2000–2016<br />

Percent of GDP<br />

280<br />

240<br />

USA<br />

2016:Q1<br />

200<br />

160<br />

India<br />

China<br />

Brazil<br />

120<br />

80<br />

40<br />

South Africa<br />

Russia<br />

0<br />

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016<br />

Source: Bank for International Settlements.<br />

driven more by private consumption. However, more recently, China may<br />

be postponing its longer-term goal of rebalancing in order to stabilize<br />

growth in the near term after growth fell from 7.2 percent in the four quarters<br />

ended in 2014:Q4 to 6.7 percent in the four quarters ended in 2016:Q3.<br />

In 2016, credit growth has been rapid, increasing financial risks, with credit<br />

to the non-financial sector as a percent of GDP now exceeding that of major<br />

emerging market economies (see Figure 2-45), real estate prices hitting<br />

record highs, and distressed bank assets rising.<br />

Against this backdrop, the Chinese renminbi (RMB) has been gradually<br />

depreciating since mid-2015 against both the dollar and a weighted basket<br />

of currencies. Net capital outflows, which had stabilized in the spring and<br />

early summer, edged up again in the third quarter and uncertainty about the<br />

course of policy in the near term may be putting downward pressure against<br />

the RMB. China’s current account surplus is well below its recent peak, but<br />

has been considerably above levels the IMF assesses to be appropriate, and<br />

it still constitutes a substantial portion of the world’s current account surpluses.<br />

As China’s economy grew to 15 percent of global GDP in 2015, targeted<br />

industrial policies have made it the world’s largest manufacturer and<br />

the dominant producer of some key goods in the global marketplace, as well<br />

as a major source of demand for an array of goods, magnifying the effects<br />

of changes in its domestic economy on global prices and growth. Delays in<br />

The Year in Review and the Years Ahead | 139

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