China’s economy expanded 4.3% year-on-year in Q2, the lowest rate since the end of 2022, as the Iran war, lackluster domestic demand, and a lingering real estate slump weighed on growth.
Though the country’s exports have been churning along at an extraordinary pace — China shipped a record $412 billion of goods last month — domestic consumption has sagged, leading some analysts to warn of a potential deflationary spiral. Meanwhile, industrial and real estate investment plunged in the first half of the year, a bad omen for the world’s second-biggest economy.
“No domestic demand, all about exports — it’s really quite unsustainable,” the chief economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis told CNN.