According to Chinese beliefs, February 5, 2019, marked the start of the Year of the Pig. Occult practitioners have warned that the Year of the Pig might not turn out to be so great for China and the rest of the world. The U.S.-China trade war has the potential to drag on and dampen the global economy for the entire year.
Year of the Pig
The Year of the Pig is expected to herald instability, unrest, and a massive economic slowdown. This is the prediction of popular Hong Kong Feng Shui master Raymond Lo. In 2017, the Year of the Rooster brought optimism to the markets. However, the Year of the Dog in 2018 started dampening the upsurge. And in 2019, the Year of the Pig is expected to terminate all positivity from markets.
Last year, Lo predicted that the world will see major conflicts in international relations that would negatively affect the economy. This sort of came true with the U.S.-China trade war and the resulting slowdown in the markets. Though international relations will improve this year, Lo warns that such improvements will only be on the surface. An “undercurrent of danger, unrest, and deception” will pervade the façade of peace, he stated.
In addition to economic issues, Lo also predicted that big unrest, possibly political, is on the verge. He expects huge natural disasters like earthquakes to be more common this year. Traffic accidents, both at sea and air, will see a spike.
The ongoing U.S.-China trade war looms large in 2019. (Image: via Pixabay)
Individually, Lo predicts people born in the Year of the Pig will see bad luck this year. He suggested that they wear a tiger pendant to protect themselves from unfortunate events. He warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Donald Trump Jr., both born in the Year of the Snake, will face several challenges during the Year of the Pig.
Trade war and the Chinese economy
The ongoing trade conflict between the U.S. and China will be a big contributor to a slowing global economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned last month. This year, the world economy is projected to grow by 3.5 percent, down from 3.7 percent in 2018. China has already reported 2018 growth at 6.6 percent, which is its weakest since 1990. The IMF sees Chinese growth dropping to 6.2 percent this year.
“After two years of solid expansion, the world economy is growing more slowly than expected and risks are rising,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a statement (USA Today).
China’s provinces have slashed growth forecasts for 2019 owing to uncertainty surrounding their country’s trade relationship with the U.S. Out of the 12 province-level divisions that published growth targets for the year, eight of them had cut back on projections. Henan Province, home of the biggest iPhone factory in the world, revised down its 2019 growth target to 6.5 percent from the previous 7.5 percent. Beijing has lowered its growth target to 6 percent from 6.5 percent.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) sees weak economic growth in China in 2019. (Image: via kurzweilai.net )
The Chinese tech industry is reportedly seeing a big drawdown. “The overall environment for online businesses is not good. In addition to the competition, the industry is taking a downturn and many big Internet companies are making cutbacks,” a Chinese tech worker said in a statement (VOA News).
The number of ads for the tech industry fell by 51 percent year-over-year in Q3 2018, according to data from job listing service Zhaopin. To keep the situation from worsening further, the Chinese government is said to have introduced a new set of incentives for businesses to prevent them from reducing the workforce.
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