His decision Chinese President Xi Jinping completely abandon the zero-tolerance policy on the coronavirus and allow the Chinese to move freely both in and out China this is expected to lead to another major outflow of capital from the world’s second largest economy. Wealthy Chinese who travel abroad either for tourism purposes or for permanent residence in another country take large sums of money with them to invest in real estate or foreign securities. Juwai IQI real estate company, which offers consulting services and promotes the sale of real estate in various parts of the world, as well as its clients from Asia, is indicative. As he points out, requests for purchases from the Chinese fell by 26% in 2021 and another 11% in 2022, but since the beginning of 2023 they have risen by 55%.

Before the pandemic, China was leaving China with $150 billion annually, but this year this outflow of wealth from the world’s second economy is expected to be clearly larger. The reason is that the Chinese have not traveled for the last three years. As Alicia Garcia Herrero, Asia-Pacific Economist at Natixis SA, notes, “China will face a major capital outflow this year, and that will put pressure on the yuan and the country’s current account.” She is not sure if the amounts will be higher than in other years, as some of them may not be able to take them out of the country. However, he does not take into account that this will affect the labor force, productivity and growth of China.

Some of those who go abroad are focused on finding real estate for investment, and someone intends to implement their plan of permanent residence abroad. According to a Credit Suisse report released in September, China ranks second in the world after the US in terms of the number of super-rich, with more than 32,000 Chinese citizens worth more than $50 million. The mass exodus of wealthy Chinese began last year. About 10,800 Chinese have emigrated during 2022, the largest exodus of citizens since 2019. This figure is second only to Russians who have fled their country since the start of the war, according to New World Wealth, an international data aggregator that works with immigration. consulting company Henley & Patrners.

About 10,800 Chinese have emigrated during 2022, the largest mass exodus of citizens since 2019.

At the heart of the evil are the Chinese president’s campaigns to subdue powerful industrial sectors such as high-tech, real estate and education, and advance his goal of “common prosperity” on the other. As political and economic analysts note, these aggressive campaigns have unsettled the Chinese upper class, which has been accustomed for years to amassing an ever-increasing share of wealth until it challenges the dominance of the Chinese leadership. The anxiety of the wealthy, after all, has intensified since October, when the Chinese president consolidated his power and political control at a five-year party convention. According to Feruza Jamalova, legal adviser at the Canadian law firm Sobirovs, “in the past six months, people have been really upset, and now our clients from China are in a hurry to immigrate and want to do it as soon as possible.”

And, of course, the losses for China will not be limited to the amount of capital that leaves the country, but will extend to the country’s intellectual capital, as there is a risk of a massive outflow of highly educated and highly skilled and professional individuals. In addition, Hong Kong-based immigration consultants who offer services to wealthy Chinese note that the country’s wealthy residents have been making plans to flee China for years, and people who are now looking for a country to move to and real estate or securities to invest their money no longer only the very rich. Many simply belong to the so-called upper middle class, are ordinary businessmen or even high-ranking business executives. However, at the same time, investment banks, sensing the desire of wealthy Chinese to invest their money abroad, began building their own offices to handle these large capital flows. And high liquidity has led to skyrocketing prices for everything from luxury mansions and golf club memberships to luxury cars sold in Singapore.