Roll up for China’s amazing invisible depression!

David Llewellyn-Smith

Thursday 29 January 2026

More evidence today of China’s Great Depression. The PBoC January survey is a doozy.

Goldman adjusts these figures seasonally.

Loan approval: 53.4 in Q4 2025 compared to 53.8 in Q3 2025; loan demand: 56.1 in Q4 2025 versus 57.7 in Q3 2025
Sentiment toward monetary policy for the upcoming quarter: 71.5 in Q4 2025 compared to 73.9 in Q3 2025

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.