Economic adviser says China needs 'major' boost

China needs a bolder spending package to mend the finances of households and companies, according to a central bank adviser, as signs of resilience in the economy mask the damage wrought by the trade war with the US.

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While booming exports supported economic output in the third quarter, indicators ranging from inflation to private investment and unemployment all point to sluggish confidence in the face of tariff uncertainties, said Huang Yiping, a member of the monetary policy committee at the People’s Bank of China.

“What we really need is for the government, including the central bank, to do something major — to repair the balance sheets of households, enterprises, local governments and maybe also the financial institutions,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of the Bund Summit in Shanghai.

The assessment calls into doubt the ability of the world’s second-biggest economy to remain mostly immune to the trade war without a larger dose of stimulus.