Commentary
At the beginning of the year, many economists had predicted that the COVID “great re-opening” of China would spur domestic spending and the consumer sector.
Following years of periodic lockdowns, the hope is that consumers would roar out of the gates to offset slowdowns in traditional growth areas such as manufacturing and real estate.
But after a brief first quarter of economic growth, the wheels have come off the Chinese economy.
The most recent economic data from May showed that metrics have all deteriorated across the board, from youth unemployment to retail sales, real estate prices, and capital investments, according to official data from the National Bureau of Statistics….