China's real-estate economic slump threatens Xi's aspirations for third term in power

Aug 25, 2022

Beijing [China], August 25 : In an attempt to revive the economy hurt by real estate debt problems, the Chinese central bank announced a sudden strong interest rate cut which has given a severe blow to the Chinese economy at a sensitive time for Chinese supreme leader Xi Jinping, who is seeking to secure a third term in power.
This comes as a good chunk of revenue for the Chinese local governments had been affected as many real estate projects are lying unfinished. Because of the hit revenue, banks in China's Henan province had frozen money of depositors which led to numerous large-scale protests.
In view of the troubled situation, on August 15, China's central bank suddenly announced a strong interest rate cut. This was the second cut in this year, reported European Times.
As per analysts cited by the media portal, these cuts in interest rates will not be able to push the economy forward and will continue to pose challenges. Last year, the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) accepted that it had no way to deal with the triple whammy of "shrinking demand, supply shock, and weakening expectations."
To make matters worse there is a backdrop of the Russian-Ukrainian war and China's high-handedness of the zero-COVID policy. China closed the entire of Shanghai in order to contain the coronavirus and this has resulted in accentuating China's economic market volatility.
The impact of the Shanghai lockdown was so big that in the month of May, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held a rare "100,000-person meeting". "It seems that the most challenging time is worsening," said the media portal.
Now, Xi Jinping is expected to seek a third time in power in November at the 20th Party Congress. At the time
When Xi came to power in year 2012, and detailed his 'Chinese dream,' he did not anticipate how difficult it would be for him to win an unprecedented third term as the country's leader.
The forecasts for economic growth are showing a slack in the Chinese economy, new COVID cases threaten to close down the business hubs, and the US pushing back on Taiwan seem to be only a few worries on Xi's mind.
Additionally, for decades, buying property was considered a safe investment in China, but now it seems to be the reason for anger and resentment. China's new home prices fell for the 11th straight month in a row for the period ended 31 July 2022. As developers defaulted on payments, the real estate crisis spread to banks loaning money for projects.