This dramatic question was asked in Commodity Today. It says that at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the US-economy was eight times larger than China’s – ten years later the figure was down to four-times. China’s $4.9-trillion economy has already passed Germany’s to become the world’s third largest, and is on course to overtake #2, Japan, this year.
China has emerged to become the world’s largest exporter, shipping $1.2 trillion worth of goods abroad last year, and overtaking Germany, which held the title of world’s biggest exporter since 2002.
Beijing’s massive intervention transformed its economy into the world’s locomotive sector, and appears to have made great headway in loosening its dependence on the health of its major export markets, including the Euro zone, Japan, and the United States.
China has also passed the US as the world’s largest auto market and producer. Two decades ago, a car industry barely existed in China. Steel output for 2009 is estimated at 565 million tons, up 13% year on year. Excluding China, global steel output fell 23% from the previous year.
However, Commodity Online states the latest clampdown on Chinese bank lending has already begun to stir-up nightmares about the most brutal tightening campaign in China’s history.
A long string of PBoC increases in bank reserve ratios from 9% in January 2007, and extending to a record high of 17.5% by June 2008, is still etched in the memories of many traders.
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