China’s 2025 economic growth among slowest

CHINA'S economy grew at one of the slowest rates in decades last year, according to official data released yesterday, as officials struggle to overcome persistently low consumer spending and a debt crisis in the country’s property sector.

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PEOPLE visit a store at a business district in Beijing.

(AFP)

While the five percent expansion was in line with Beijing’s annual target - a low-ball figure analysts have likened to a political comfort blanket — observers warned it was driven largely by exports and masked weak sentiment on the ground.

And ina sign of the work ahead for leaders, the data also showed a significant slowdown in the last quarter of the year, growing at 4.5% as expected.

“The impact of changes in the external environment has deepened?” admitted National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) official Kang Yi.

“The domestic contradiction of strong supply and weak demand is prominent, and there are still many old problems and new challenges in economic development,’ he told a news briefing.