Far from a bazooka, China's stimulus measures are just trickling through the economy

cnbc.com:

China's latest efforts to kickstart growth haven't had a broad impact yet, data and company earnings show, indicating the world's second-largest economy won't be roaring back soon.

Growth in pockets from real estate to manufacturing has improved since Beijing began announcing stimulus measures in late September. Companies, however, have maintained a cautious tone when sharing outlooks in the last few weeks.

When asked on an earnings call Friday about the impact of stimulus, food delivery giant Meituan only said that in October, the average hotel order value in its newer travel booking business fell less than in the prior months, on an year-on-year basis.

«While it will take some time for the positive effect to fully materialize and to further [expand] to more consumption categories, we are confident that these policies will gradually provide more support for the real economy and incentivize consumer spending, bringing more growth opportunities for our business,» said Shaohui Chen, Meituan CFO and senior vice president, according to a recording of the earnings call.

Executives from e-commerce company Alibaba and social media operator Tencent shared similar comments last month in their earnings calls, saying stimulus would take time to translate into growth.

The ramp-up in stimulus measures is aimed at reaching this year's official target of around 5%, and a similar pace next year — while preventing financial instability, Gabriel Wildau, managing director at Teneo, said in a note Monday. To him, the tone on the economy indicates that «technological self-sufficiency and national security remain the top priorities» for China.

«Looking ahead, our sources expect that stimulus in 2025 will trickle out incrementally and in a