China’s economy grew at its slowest pace in five quarters as efforts to boost consumer spending failed, piling pressure on Beijing to shore up confidence at its twice-a-decade policy meeting this week.
Gross domestic product grew 4.7% in the second quarter from the same period a year earlier, below the median economists’ forecast of 5.1%. Retail sales rose at their slowest pace since December 2022, showing that a flurry of government efforts to boost confidence has done little to revive China’s consumer.
“The government will need to consider more policy support to achieve its annual growth target of around 5% after disappointing second-quarter data,” said Xiaojia Zhi, an economist at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong. “The increasing likelihood of Trump 2.0 also means China needs extra policy efforts to boost its domestic demand in a timely manner as downside risks to external demand loom.”
