Stephen Roach — China is Okay

Concern is growing that China’s economy could be headed for a hard landing. The Chinese stock market has fallen 20% over the past year, to levels last seen in 2009. Continued softness in recent data – from purchasing managers’ sentiment and industrial output to retail sales and exports – has heightened the anxiety. Long the global economy’s most powerful engine, China, many now fear, is running out of fuel.

These worries are overblown. Yes, China’s economy has slowed. But the slowdown has been contained, and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. The case for a soft landing remains solid.

Project Syndicate

China is Okay
Stephen S. Roach — formerly Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and the firm's Chief Economist, and currently a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute of Global Affairs