News Analysis China’s GDP growth is expected to fall below 5 percent this year, breaking Beijing’s line of acceptability. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) policies are to blame. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Jan. 25 has cut its 2022 China growth forecast to 4.8 percent, and warned that the effects of the collapsing property market are being felt in other industries. A crumbling real estate sector, combined with Beijing’s “zero-COVID” policy, is reducing mobility of labor as well as diminishing employment. These factors result in a suppression of private consumption, which has implications for most other types of businesses. Consequently, the World Bank cut its forecast to 5.1 percent, Fitch Ratings reduced it to 4.8 percent, while Goldman Sachs predicts even lower growth of 4.3 percent. A negative growth outlook has significant political implications for Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as 5 percent has long been considered the CCP’s bare …