One of China’s most important political (and therefore important for everything else) events of the year is currently taking place: the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference; aka the ‘two sessions.’
Official announcements and press conferences concerning the key directions for China are expected over the next 2 weeks.
My forecasts related to Aus-China HNW (high-net-worth) business and investment, include:
- GDP target lowered to 6-6.5% from the 6.6% achieved last year (But remember Australia’s 2-speed economy? Same for China; think niche-speed opportunities for HNW investment).
- ‘Welfare of the common people’ sectors to grow (e.g. health and aged care, food and energy security, pollution management, mass market and middle-class consumption, tourism, domestic education & up-skilling).
- Technology funding and implementation to be accelerated (China’s point of difference is that it can implement mass-market tech faster than the West, which in turn opens up new opportunities from disrupted sectors, from where China hopes to lead globally…such as cashless payments, with 5G implementation/Internet of Things being the next mass-market frontier).
- Financial and capital markets reform and development to accelerate (Particularly wealth management and PE/VC funds….. think John Pierpont Morgan…JP Morgan…who flourished from the successes of US industrialists a hundred+ years ago. Chinese HNW investors will be seeking opportunities in this sector, including gaining business models, IP and JVs from the West).
- Capital controls to be maintained, although outbound Belt and Road, ‘welfare of the people’ and technology related investments will continue (and capital already outside of China becomes more valuable).
We will discuss these issues at the 12 March Crazy Rich seminar Melbourne and the 20 March Pain and Gain seminar in Parramatta, both sponsored by Deloitte. As mentioned last week, early bird pricing ends midnight Wednesday 6th March.