The HSBC purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the Chinese manufacturing sector indicated a final reading of 49.6 for March this year, decreasing by 1.1 percentage points compared to the final reading for February of 50.7, as announced by HSBC Holdings PLC on April 1. According to Hongbin Qu, HSBC's chief economist for China, in March this year sluggish domestic demand was the main reason for the decline in the HSBC PMI, with the new order index, the employment index and the price index recording decreases compared to the previous month.
The HSBC official said he believes that the Chinese government will likely implement further fiscal easing measures in 2015, likely cutting the benchmark interest rate and the deposit reserve ratio by 50 points and 200 points respectively.
Meanwhile, as announced by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on April 1, the purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector was at 50.1 percent in March of the current year, up 0.2 percentage points compared to February.