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Last weekend, the Chinese foreign exchange regulator announced it will clamp down on "serious mismatches" between flows of money and goods to stop attempts to evade capital controls. After that takes effect, "trade growth will likely slow," said Nomura's Zhang. A Cabinet statement last month promised to improve the role of consumption as a driver of growth. It pledged changes in medical, pension and other policies but gave no details. Analysts say better funding for social programs will be required to free up household budgets for consumer spending. April's stronger gains in imports compared with exports caused China's reported global trade surplus to narrow by about 1 percent, though to a still-wide $18.2 billion. China runs a deficit with most of its trading partners, which supply oil, other raw materials and industrial components, and makes up for it by running large surpluses with its U.S. and European export markets. China's exports to Europe, hurt by the continent's debt troubles, declined 6.5 percent to $25.9 billion and the surplus with the 27-nation European Union narrowed by 32 percent to $7.9 billion. Trade with some European countries suffered even bigger declines. Germany's imports of Chinese goods fell 7.2 percent and France's by 6.7 percent.
Exports to the United States edged down by a fraction of 1 percent to $28.1 billion while the trade gap with the U.S. narrowed by 13 percent to $14.7 billion. ___ Online: General Administration of Customs of China (in Chinese):
http://www.customs.gov.cn/
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