SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s top banking regulator said on Thursday that the country will not adopt “flood-like” stimulus nor negative rates, warning that unprecedented easing by the Federal Reserve will dent U.S. credibility.
Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), also urged major global economies to consider how to exit from massive easing.
“Major economies should actively consider the external impact of their own policies in a highly-integrated global economy,” Guo told a finance forum held in Shanghai via video.
Policies adopted by developed countries have a big impact on developing nations, Guo said, urging governments to “think thrice” before rolling out fresh stimulus measures.
“There’s no free meal in this world…and you must pay a price for your blank cheques,” Guo said, citing lessons from the previous crisis.
“When you introduce large-scale stimulus, everyone is cheering. It may be very painful at the time of exit.”
China has guided lending rates lower, cut bank reserve requirements and pumped out trillions of yuan in liquidity but is cautious about opening the floodgates further as its economy gradually recovers from the coronavirus outbreak.
The Institute of International Finance estimated that China’s total debt hit 317% of gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2020, up from 300% at end-2019, the largest quarterly increase on record.
Guo said a dollar-denominated global monetary system had played a role in stabilising the global economy, but massive domestic stimulus in the United States risks denting sovereign debt and dollar credibility.
The regulator said that it takes time for the global supply chain to recover, predicting that high inflation could return.
(Reporting by Winni Zhou, Andrew Galbraith and Samuel Shen; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
