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China's growth rate in 2022, barely managed to touch the three per cent mark, the lowest after the 2.2 per cent growth seen during COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, The Singapore Post reported.
China's economy grew by 2.9 per cent in the final quarter of 2022, down from 3.9 per cent in the third quarter. The GDP was 121 trillion yuan (USD18 trillion) from 114.37 trillion yuan in 2021. According to The Singapore Post report, even the low growth rate is hailed in China where fears of an economic free fall gripped the people, the government and analysts after the Zero-COVID policy began to harm manufacturing, jobs and demand. China's trading community and industry are beginning to realize the situation that they are in. The National Burau of Statistics figures show that retail sales fell by 1.8 per cent last month compared with a year earlier. Another major worry for China is joblessness. China's Vice-Premier, Liu He, recently admitted that China's economy is not what the communist government claims. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he said the economy will quickly get back to normal. "We are confident that in 2023 China's growth will most likely return to its normal trend. The Chinese economy will see a significant improvement," he said, as quoted by The Singapore Post. Liu addressed China's concerns about the aggressive interest rate increases by some countries, largely the US Federal Reserve, which raised rates by more than 400 basis points in the past 10 months. Despite tight capital controls and close monitoring of cross-border capital flows, the yuan plunged to a 10-year low of 7.25 against the US dollar in early November. China's demographics and economic growth rate are raising the biggest questions among business people about whether to invest in China or not, reported The New York Times (NYT). A rapidly ageing population, slowing growth in productivity, high debt levels and rising social inequality will continue to weigh on the country's economy, it said. China's economy is witnessing its worst downward trend with the economic growth rate plunging to a mere three per cent in 2022. China has been engaging foreign financial institutions, market analysts, major investment groups and think tanks to paint a rosy picture of the future of China's economy. (ANI)
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