Virtually all the indicators, from manufacturing activity to trade data, point to weakening. Expectations of an immanent reduction in the real interest rate have never been higher, despite the central bank's insistence on reining in financial risks and managing the debt burden.
China's consumer price index (CPI) plunged to 0.8 percent in January,the weakest since November 2009.
After years of robust expansion, China's economic growth rate has slowed in recent times, in part due to a decline in demand for its exports from key markets.
Prompted by the slowdown, China has been trying to boost domestic consumption to sustain its expansion and also to rebalance its growth model.
Last month, China's central bank said it would cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) - the amount of cash banks needs to keep in reserve - for banks engaged in lending to agriculture-related businesses and small companies to make more cash available for lending.
The most recent aspect of China's new economic policies involves prioritising poverty relief over GDP figures. The Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council said in its guidelines issued in late January 2014 that over the rest of this decade, officials' performance in 592 poor counties would be evaluated through the creation of means to generate livelihood, and focus on environmentally and economically sustainable growth.
A nationwide information framework is also proposed to aid future poverty alleviation efforts.
Efforts towards ramping up health and social security so that people can lessen their extraordinarily high savings are maturing.
Another round of foreign and domestic investment to tap the rising consumption inside China cannot be discounted on rising costs and salaries alone. A relatively favourable international market scenario in 2014 can only make the ongoing transition to a sustainable economy easier.
Nonetheless, pushing China towards too fast a transition could send it off the track and the government's policy reflects this caution.
