Timely for central bank to use quantitative easing

Hard going: A worker at a construction site in Beijing. May data showed signs of persisting weakness in China’s real estate sector. — AP

Beijing: China should shake off its “taboo” regarding quantitative easing (QE) – the once-unorthodox central bank policy of buying government bonds – and recognise that it may be necessary in the interest of stoking economic growth, a former People’s Bank of China (PBoC) adviser says.

Chinese policymakers have long rejected QE, which was used by most central banks in advanced economies as a stimulus tool after they had lowered interest rates toward zero.