Wed 14 Dec 2022 - 15:00 GMT / 10:00 EST

With the 20th Party Congress firmly in the rearview, China's senior leaders are increasingly focused on righting the economic ship.

A growing number of policy advisors are arguing that getting economic growth back to "a reasonable range" should be job no.1 next year.

Still, officials' reluctance to fundamentally alter the zero-Covid policy -- alongside the chaotic rollout of the most recent "optimizations" of that policy -- will continue to disrupt economic activity for the foreseeable future.

Perhaps more optimistically, a new, more concerted effort to stabilize the property sector may soon start to pay dividends.

Additionally, infrastructure investment will keep accelerating in the months ahead.

On balance, then, a subtle policy shift toward more effective economic stimulus looks to be underway, even as numerous headwinds to growth remain.