China Ratchets Up Budget Spending at Fastest Pace Since 2022

China’s broad fiscal spending expanded at the fastest pace in almost three years, pushing the deficit to another record as the government steers an economy grappling with weakening demand and higher tariffs.

Total expenditure rose 9.3% to 21.5 trillion yuan ($3 trillion) in the first seven months of 2025 from a year ago, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data released by the Finance Ministry on Tuesday. That’s the fastest increase since August 2022.