Will China’s slowdown derail reforms?
China's economic slowdown has pushed policy makers toward stimulus measures, spurring analyst concerns about whether long-sought reforms may fall by the wayside. "While structural reforms remain at the top of the policy agenda, the recent cyclical slowdown has made advancing them less urgent than was the case six months ago," Barclays said in a note Tuesday. "There is no clear indication of how fast this area may progress in the short term, except around combating corruption, where the government has highlighted it will do 'whatever it takes.'" China has been pursuing reforms to shift its economic model away from labor-intensive and export-oriented manufacturing, which has been dependent on continuous credit growth, and toward one more reliant on private consumption, services and the private sector. Chinese firms most upbeat in a year. Reforms have targeted a wide range of issues, including corruption, a troubled property sector, non-performing lo