CHINA’S ECONOMY STUMBLES IN JULY - Trends Journal
August 18, 2026August 18, 2026 Weather-related disruptions and persistently weak consumer demand dampened China’s household spending and industrial output in July. The disappointing start to the year’s. . .
August 18, 2026August 18, 2026Weather-related disruptions and persistently weak consumer demand dampened China’s household spending and industrial output in July. The disappointing start to the year’s third quarter followed a second quarter in which GDP growth fell to its slowest in three and a half years. That leaves China to continue to depend heavily on exports to buoy its economy as importing nations continue to mull trade barriers to protect domestic producers. July’s growth in factory output slowed to 4. 5 percent last month from a 5. 3-percent expansion in June, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported. In a Reuters survey, economists had projected 4. 8-percent growth. Analysts say that while Beijing has plotted modest stimulus measures, it has yet to fully implement many of them. “The poor performance is due in part to ineffective use of the policy measures in hand,” said economist Xu Tianchen at The Economist Intelligence Unit. “It’s a call for officials to be bolder about spending what they have. Investment in fixed assets such as factories shrank by 6. 7 percent, year on year, during the first seven months of 2026. During the first six months the decrease was 5. 7 percent, indicating a slight acceleration in the decline in July. “Attention should be paid to investment,” Xu added, “whose sharp decline is by no means acceptable to Beijing. ”Officials will do more to boost domestic consumer demand, NBS official Fu Linghui told reporters. TREND FORECAST:The country’s five-year depression in home prices has dissuaded consumers from spending and instead increased savings to offset their loss of equity in their houses. In July, the selling price of new homes was down 0. 1 percent from June and 3. 2 percent from a year before. And since the start of the year, investment in real estate declined 19. 2 percent. And withsome52 percent of household wealth invested in real estate, the property slump has depleted consumer spending. It must be noted that this is a result of Beijing launching the COVID War on itsChinese Lunar New Year, “The Year of the Rat,” when they imposed three years of draconian zero COVID policy that destroyed the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of itspopulation. August 18 2026,China,Global Economy