China relaxes some rules. The US slows down

<p>Kia ora,</p><p>Welcome to Monday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand.</p><p>I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz.</p><p>Today we lead with news all eyes this week will be on Chinese and American December inflation levels.</p><p>Although most of the data has been coming from the world's largest economy, the most interesting tends are coming from the second largest, China. There are risks aplenty, giant weaknesses, and giant opportunities. It is just we can't get a great picture because its economic data is so opaque. There are some sources other than official sources, but not to the extent we expect in an open economy.</p><p>We should note first than an importer has placed an order for Australian coal, providing clear evidence of the lifting of an unofficial ban imposed more than two years ago on that trade with Australia.</p><p>China's new energy relationship with Russia <a href="https://www.caixinglobal.com/2023-01-06/north-china-gas-shortages-leave-villagers-shivering-101986335.html" target="_blank"><strong>isn't solving their issues</strong></a> in northern China.</p><p>And the sheer amount of money Chinese banks have been 'lending' to their property developers to keep them afloat is astounding.</p><p>Chinese authorities said Chinese New Year travel will nearly double to 2.1 billion trips this season, after the country all but abolished pandemic border restrictions recently. Most travel will be internal. But there will also be a surge in international travel. Chinese booking site Trip.com said the most popular destination is Australia, followed by Thailand and Japan. We will probably see some spillover from the travel to Australia, maybe even more so given Australia decided to place pandemic testing restrictions on Chinese travelers.</p><p>Taiwanese <a href="https://www.mof.gov.tw/singlehtml/384fb3077bb349ea973e7fc6f13b6974?cntId=160e1e08906342b2b859f0765bcac032" target="_blank"><strong>exports fell a sharp -1