(Yicai) Dec. 7 -- Confidence in China’s economy has slightly rebounded in December after having softened a little last month, mainly because improved China-US relations resulted in more optimistic views on China’s economic development.

The Yicai Chief Economists Confidence Index rose to 50.89 this month from 50.84 in November, the poll of leading China-based economists showed yesterday. A reading above 50 indicates positive sentiment.

The relations between China and the US are expected to return on track for healthy and stable growth next year after the presidents of the two countries met in San Francisco in mid-November. Moreover, the US interest rates are likely to start falling after hitting a peak.

These two factors will offer China a more beneficial environment for development, said Xu Sitao, chief economist at Deloitte China.

With supporting policies taking effect and last year’s low basis, economic data for the end of the year are expected to further improve, with China’s gross domestic product growth for the whole year likely exceeding 5.2 percent, said Ding Anhua, chief economist at China Merchants Bank.

The intensive issuance of various supporting policies at the end of the year laid the foundation for the economy to continue recovering next year, Ding noted.

The economists polled by Yicai expect the consumer price index to have fallen 0.11 point last month, 0.09 point slower than the official CPI decline in October. They also predicted that the producer price index dropped 2.72 points in November, 0.12 point faster than the official PPI fall the previous month.

The growth rates of China’s retail sales of consumer goods and industrial value added are expected to have sped up 4.5 points and 0.9 point to 12.1 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively, in November from the official figures for October, according to the chief economists.

Meanwhile, November’s growth rate of fixed asset investment is expected to be 2.9 percent, the same as the official data for the previous month.

New loans likely soared 78 percent to CNY1.3 trillion (USD181.6 billion) last month from October’s official data, the chief economists predicted. Their average forecast for social financing was CNY2.5 trillion in November, up 35 percent from the official figure the previous month.

The chief economists expect the Chinese yuan to slightly appreciate against the US dollar by the end of the year, with the exchange rate rebounding to around 7.09. They also predicted that the Chinese yuan-US dollar exchange rate would reach about 6.81 by the end of next year, meaning that the yuan will strengthen around 4 percent throughout 2024.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione