The Wealthy Are Getting Their Cash Out of China
Commentary
For three years during COVID-19, money flowed into China while almost none flowed out. Now, the trend is reversing.
Between 2014 and 2019, China experienced net capital outflows—meaning more money flowed out of the country than in. But beginning in 2020, with COVID travel restrictions and ratcheting control exerted by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, more money remained in the country. During the first two years of the pandemic, when the rest of the world was in lockdown, China continued to export, causing both a trade surplus and net cash inflows. Now, the situation has changed. During the final quarter of 2022, China experienced the first net capital outflow in over two years….