Multiple crises since mid-2020 have included developers’ debt defaults and stalled construction of pre-sold housing projects. It's way too lowĬonfidence in the property sector, for years a pillar of China’s growth, remains fragile. Hao Qunying/VCG/Getty ImagesĬhina has an inflation problem. New export orders edged down to 47.6 from 50.4 in March, the PMI showed.Ĭustomers shop for vegetables at a supermarket on Jin Handan, Hebei Province of China. “A lack of market demand and the high-base effect from the quick manufacturing recovery in the first quarter” were among factors that led to the contraction in April, said senior NBS statistician Zhao Qinghe. The Politburo, a top decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party, on Friday stressed that restoring and expanding demand is the key to a durable recovery and cautioned the current improvement is mainly restorative “with weak momentum and insufficient demand.” Slowing prices and surging bank savings are raising doubts about demand. The world’s second-biggest economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter thanks to robust services consumption, but factory output has lagged amid weak global growth. Mark Schiefelbein/APĬhina's economy shakes off Covid legacy to grow 4.5% in Q1 Commuters cross an intersection in the central business district during the morning rush hour in Beijing, Tuesday, April 18, 2023.

Echoes of Us by Kat Zhang