In Surprise, Recovery in China Loses Steam
Source: New York Times
The Chinese economic recovery lost some of its momentum during the first quarter of this year, official data released on Monday showed, surprising analysts who had expected growth to accelerate on the back of ample credit, strong infrastructure spending and firm exports.
The economy expanded by just 7.7 percent during the first three months of the year, compared with a year earlier, short of the 8 percent that economists polled by Reuters had projected, and slower than during the previous three months, when gross domestic product rose 7.9 percent year-on-year.
Industrial output data for March also underlined the fading momentum. Growth dropped to 8.9 percent compared with March 2012, well below expectations.
The spokesman for the Chinese statistics bureau, Sheng Laiyun, played down the shortfall.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/business/global/chinese-gdp-for-first-quarter-shows-signs-of-slowdown.html
DJ13
(23,671 posts)TekGryphon
(430 posts)Are you freaking kidding me? 7.7% growth is phenomenal, and the fact that the growth is slightly retracting is something most would consider to be good. A gradual edging of growth will prevent a sharp retraction down the road.
I usually like NYTimes, but this is just stupid.
Warpy
(110,913 posts)was the new normal and that life would always be that way.
Real estate has been massively overbuilt and their main market (the US) is mired in Republican austerity. There is no way they could keep that GDP rocketing up.
Obama would weep for joy if our GDP increased 3.85% in a year, half what the Chinese are doing.
bananas
(27,509 posts)similar to what happened in the US in 1973 with the oil crisis. Until then, cheap oil fueled electricity growth at 7% per year, but with higher electricity prices, growth dropped to around 2% per year. Reactor orders were cancelled, and many of the ones under construction were abandoned. With lower economic growth in China, electricity growth will also decrease, and they may start cancelling reactor orders.
Also, highly respected and influential scientists in China are calling for a halt to new reactors for safety reasons, the combined economic and safety considerations may stop new reactor construction completely:
Source: China Dialogue
China is heading for a nuclear accident if it continues with current construction plans, says former state nuclear physicist and prominent critic He Zuoxiu.
<snip>
if China sticks to plans to build another 30 third-generation power stations between 2015 and 2020, the risks rocket.
<snip>
For safetys sake, it would be better to stop at 41 reactors, a number due to be reached in 2015.
<snip>
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014429332
Warpy
(110,913 posts)I still hold out some hope that the research will turn up something unexpected and beneficial.
Hosnon
(7,800 posts)It's accurate.
Plus, I'm pretty sure the Chinese economy must grow at a very high rate to prevent massive social unrest.
TekGryphon
(430 posts)The headline and introduction are both riddled with negative connotations and I find it laughably absurd.
DallasNE
(7,392 posts)Europe is slipping back into recession. Cause and effect. Next? Oh, and what does the picture on employment and pay look like? Are wages starting to stagnate because if that is the case it would also cause a slowdown in the rate of growth. I'm sure there are some clues that the experts overlooked. Same thing happens here all of the time.
Amonester
(11,541 posts)So at least, their environment will be a little less polluted?
Is that a bad thing?
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)I'm thinking about the increasing lopsidedness of the import/export equation between China and the developed world and the decisions in so many developed countries including our own to place austerity measures and thereby cut consumer spending on Chinese products in place. Makes sense to me that the rate of China's growth in productivity is changing to meet the reduced demand for its goods.
The changes in China plus all the austerity measures. There is a certain random organization to these events.
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)Kelvin Mace
(17,469 posts)and totally ruled by greed can a national economic 7.7% growth rate be considered bad news.