China's economic slowdown: Challenges persist despite stimulus
China is facing new economic challenges. Its GDP growth has slowed to 4.6 percent year-on-year, marking its lowest level since the beginning of 2023. If this trend continues until the end of the year, it could disrupt Beijing's plans.
According to data released on Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), China's GDP growth slowed to 4.6 percent in the third quarter of this year, reaching its lowest level since the start of 2023, when pandemic restrictions began to be lifted. In the second quarter, China's GDP grew by 4.7 percent.
China has slowed down
According to analyses by the Japanese broadcaster NHK, China's economic slowdown persists due to a collapse in business and consumer confidence, difficulties in the real estate market, and low domestic demand.
The NBS wrote in comments published with the data that China faces a "complicated and severe external environment ... as well as new problems of domestic economic development," aside from the "figures showing a forecast-beating rise in September retail sales."
Beijing switches on the "defibrillator"
At the end of September, authorities in Beijing took measures to stimulate the economy, including cutting interest rates and mortgage costs and increasing financial support for developers facing challenges.
However, Nikkei Asia writes that many analysts argue these actions are insufficient to restore consumer and business confidence and ease deflationary pressures.
Although this is a marginal decline in the GDP growth rate compared to the second quarter, if this trend continues until the end of the year, it will make achieving the official growth target of 5 per cent difficult, said Zhang Zhiwei, president and chief economist of Pinpoint Asset Management, as quoted by the South Asia Morning Post.
