Initial public stock offerings (IPOs) in China raised five times as much money as U.S. IPOs in this year’s first quarter, the Financial Times reported.

From 1 January through April, the number of U.S. IPOs fell 40 percent, year on year. Just 56 issues were offered, raising $3.8 billion, data service Dealogic said, compared with $12.3 billion a year earlier.

In contrast, China’s nearly 80 IPOs brought in about $19.5 billion.

Although China’s total value of IPOs was about $4 billion less than a year earlier, the country still accounted for 53 percent of the world’s initial public offerings in this year’s first four months, according to Dealogic.

Higher interest rates, tumult in the U.S. banking sector, and an aversion to risk discouraged U.S. companies from going public, the FT noted.

Europe’s market for IPOs also was lackluster, finding less than $2.3 billion or about 40 percent less than a year previous.

The U.K., with its economy in shambles, managed just six listings, raising £90 million.

In contrast, China has shown rising economic activity after its COVID restrictions were abolished late last year. The government has simplified the process of going public and has implemented financial supports for companies in economically strategic sectors.

“It’s not that Asia has exploded” in terms of IPOs, analyst Avery Spear at Renaissance Capital said to the FT. “It’s that the U.S. and the rest of the world have died down so much that China and other markets end up accounting for a lot of activity.”

TREND FORECAST: IPOs and the wealth they bring to creators and entrepreneurs will continue to be a key incentive for people with ideas.

However, with credit tightening and economies slowing in the West, IPOs will continue to be fewer than historical norms. 

At the same time, China will continue to race ahead in capitalizing new ventures, taking advantage of its mastery in a growing number of strategic technologies, government supports, and its world-leading educational standards.

However, as with other nations, they have not economically recovered from the COVID War which they launched on Chinese Lunar New Year, The Year of the Rat, 2020.

April imports slumped, falling 7.9 percent year on year, while exports increased at a slower pace, rising 8.5 percent but down from March’s 14.8 increase.

And the slowdown is global. Again, name the country. The higher interest rates rise, the deeper economies will fall. Hit by sharp declines in shipments to the U.S. and China, German exports in April fell 5.2 per cent from March.