, Columnist
China's Growth Story Has Plenty of Holes
Don’t get carried away by the green shoots. Ample data show that Beijing’s targets are increasingly unrealistic.
Smoke signals.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
As China posts yet another quarter of six percent-plus growth, analysts have been quick to brand the latest upswing as a rebound. Buoyed by this year’s double-digit stock-market gains, large flows of credit and tax cuts for consumers, Beijing is trying to sell the narrative that growth remains stable.
Some official statistics seem to support that theory: Gross domestic product grew an annualized 6.4 in the first quarter from a year earlier. Retail sales rose 8.7 percent and factory output climbed 8.5 percent.