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Ascott Residence Trust
Annual Report 2015
China
2016 Outlook
According to EIU, China’s economy growth is expected
to slow to 6.5% in 2016. China’s economy is expected
to grow at a slower but sustainable pace of 6.5% from
2016 to 2020 as indicated by President Xi Jinping in
early November 2015.
Moving ahead, Ascott Reit’s properties in the first
tier cities namely Tianjin, Guangzhou and Shanghai
are expected to remain resilient while benefitting
from regional developments that would bring about
considerable opportunities: Airbus announced the
establishment of an A320 final assembly line and
delivery centre in Tianjin, coinciding with Boeing’s
plans to open a 737 completion centre as well in
the city. Hainan Airlines’ subsidiary Tianjin Airlines is
planning to expand its footprint internationally through
the launch of its Tianjin-Vancouver service, scheduled
for mid-2016. Guangzhou is earmarked for Procter &
Gamble’s new logistics centre, as part of their growth
plans in China. Shanghai Disneyland is likely to open
by 1H 2016, estimated to be the largest theme park in
China, drawing crowds of about 17 million annually.
Intel, one of the world’s largest semiconductor chip
makers, has announced plans to upgrade its facility
in Dalian in 2016 and may invest up to US$5.5 billion
to support the production of leading-edge non-
volatile memory chips. Wuhan is positioning itself as
a “navigation centre” on the central government’s
Yangtze River Economic Belt in the hope of raising
funds to expand its port container handling capacity.
In January 2016, the Xi’an government launched its
first ever innovation and entrepreneurship forum and
lined up a series of activities to attract foreign talent to
accelerate the construction of science and technology
parks and innovation demonstration zone within the
Xi’an Hi-Tech Industries Development Zone.
As we enter 2016, we continue to see a resilient
domestic demand underpinned by China’s central
policies and the government’s resolve to restructure
the economy while ensuring a long-term sustainable
economic growth rate.
Operations Review
