China’s better economic growth hides reasons to worry
The country’s leaders are too complacent about deflation
![An employee works at a wind-turbine factory in Qingzhou, Shandong province, China](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240420_FNP502.jpg)
When China’s leaders set an economic-growth target of “around” 5% for this year, the goal was widely agreed to be ambitious. Now the country looks increasingly likely to meet it. Several foreign banks have raised their forecasts. Data released on April 16th show the economy grew by 5.3% in the first quarter, compared with a year earlier—quicker than expected and faster than the target requires.
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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Manufacturing miracles”
Finance & economics April 20th 2024
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