China’s continued insistence on a zero-COVID policy has created severe hardships for residents and the draconian measures in use could negatively impact its GDP growth. Economists worldwide recently lowered their forecasts for China’s expected GDP growth in 2022. On April 1, economists at Morgan Stanley slashed their full-year forecast of China’s 2022 economic growth to 4.6 percent from the previous 5.1 percent, citing the country’s ongoing Omicron variant outbreak and its “strict adherence” to a zero-tolerance policy on COVID-19, according to Bloomberg News. Morgan Stanley pointed to the low overall third-dose vaccination rates in China as a potential reason for the regime’s insistence on lockdowns, adding that they may impose “stricter lockdowns if necessary.” The experts said that China’s zero-COVID approach may last until the first half of 2023 in the worst-case scenario and that “recurring lockdowns could result in more severe supply chain disruptions and [lowering its GDP growth to] …