An explosion in retail spending has helped compensate for a slowdown in China’s traditional engine of growth, manufacturing
People walk through a Beijing shopping mall on the second day of the five-day Labor Day holiday on Sunday.
AFP via Getty Images
China’s economy has entered a period in which cloudy COVID-related factors have dissipated enough to allow for clearer near-term forecasts. In theory, at least.
The rebound effects from low pandemic-era growth and the surge in consumer spending — the debate continues on whether it is “revenge spending” — following the end of virus restrictions have largely come and gone. What we are seeing now is closer to the new normal for the Chinese economy, said Hong Hao, chief China economist at GROW Investment Group in Hong Kong.
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