Tax cuts in China could be at the center of Beijing's fight against a slowing economy amid an ongoing trade spat with the U.S., experts said.
"Fiscal policy will be the front line of defense against mounting macroeconomic headwinds in 2019," Haibin Zhu, J.P. Morgan's chief China economist, wrote in a recent note.
The challenges in China's economy are already starting to show. On Monday, Beijing reported its slowest GDP growth in decades, with official data showing that the economy grew 6.6 percent in 2018 compared to a year ago — it's slowest rate of expansion since 1990.
That comes amid signs of softening demand — with recent data pointing to weaker exports and a slowdown in manufacturing activity — as the trade war with the U.S. appears to be taking a toll. Analysts such as Zhu say that Beijing will need to turn to fiscal measures, which typically means boosting government spending and cutting taxes, in order to stimulate the economy.