(Yicai) Jan. 8 -- Confidence in China’s economy edged higher this month, with economists surveyed by Yicai predicting that steady growth last year has left the economy on a firm footing.

The Yicai Chief Economists Confidence Index came in at 50.3 for January, up from 50 in December, according to the poll of 14 leading China-based chief economists.

Consumer prices probably rose 0.8 percent last month from a year earlier, compared with the prior month’s 0.7 percent gain, they said, while producer prices likely fell 2 percent, less than November’s 2.2 percent decline.

The economists expect industrial production to have climbed 4.9 percent, fixed asset investment to have dropped 2.2 percent, and retail sales of consumer goods to have risen 1.8 percent in December. All three figures are better than November’s data.

China’s trade surplus may have exceeded USD111.3 billion last month, just below November’s USD111.7 billion, according to the economists.

Their average forecast for new Chinese yuan-denominated loans was CNY718.3 billion (USD102.8 billion) last month, much higher than CNY290 billion in November, and for new social financing, it was CNY1.8 trillion (USD257.6 billion), greatly lower than the previous month’s CNY2.5 billion.

M2, a broad gauge of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, likely grew 8 percent last month, the same as in November, according to the survey’s findings.

China’s forex reserves rose by USD11.5 billion to USD3.3579 trillion as of Dec. 31 from Nov. 30, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange announced yesterday, versus the almost USD3.3588 trillion predicted by the economists.

Editor: Futura Costaglione