China's entrepreneur confidence falls in Q4

China's business climate index, a major measure of the country's macroeconomic outlook, continued to fall in the fourth quarter of 2011, and entrepreneur confidence further weakened during the previous quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said last week.

The quarterly business climate index, based on a survey of about 20,000 Chinese firms, dropped 5.2 points from the previous quarter to 128.2 in the fourth quarter, the NBS said in a statement on its website.

The index ranges from zero to 200. A reading above 100 shows economic expansion, while a reading below 100 indicates contraction.

Meanwhile, the entrepreneur confidence index, a gauge of the views and opinions of the country's entrepreneurs, fell 7.4 points to 122 in the last quarter of 2011, the NBS said.

The business climate index for the real estate sector declined for four consecutive quarters, dropping sharply by 12.2 points to 107.2 in the October-December period as the government stepped up efforts to rein in soaring housing prices and crack down on speculation.

Entrepreneur confidence in the real estate sector slid for seven consecutive quarters, plunging 18.4 points to 81.5 in the fourth quarter after falling below the boom-or-bust line of 100 in the third quarter of 2011.

Compared with the fourth quarter of 2008, when the country was hit hard by the global financial crisis, the business climate index in the last quarter of 2011 was 21.2 points higher and the entrepreneur confidence index was 27.4 points higher.

"Unlike the plunge three years ago, the current moderation in the business climate index is mild and in line with macroeconomic regulations," said Pan Jiancheng, deputy director of the China Economic Monitoring and Analysis Center under the NBS.

"There is little chance that China's economic growth will plunge in 2012. Therefore, the government should focus more on the transformation of the country's economic development pattern rather than the pace of economic growth," Pan said.

The country's GDP growth slowed to 9.1 percent in the third quarter of 2011 from 9.5 percent in the second quarter and 9.7 percent in the first quarter.

The government is set to release preliminary economic development figures for the fourth quarter, as well as the entire year, of 2011 on Jan. 17, according to a timetable released by the NBS last Friday.