Four challenges facing China in Year of the Dragon

CHINA

Asia fund managers have warned China's economy faces a series of challenges despite its meteoric rise to global superpower status.

The country’s rate of growth has prompted the IMF to predict China will overtake the US as the world’s largest economy within five years. Since the Chinese government relaxed regulation to allow state-owned enterprises to list on stock exchanges in the mid-1990s, growth has averaged 9.5% per year. However, rapid inflation, tightening monetary policy and a recent slowdown in growth have led investors to question whether China has lost its shine. Soft or hard landing? The major talking point over the past year has been whether China will experience a hard landing, which would see go...