![\"China](\"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2022-10\/ci2ir7so_xi-jingpingreuters-_625x300_16_October_22.jpg\"\/ "\\"China")
<\/div>\nChina’s leadership gathers for a major meeting set to hand President Xi Jinping’s 3rd term. (File)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Beijing: <\/b><\/p>\n
China said Monday it will delay the release of economic growth figures, as the country’s leadership gathers for a major meeting set to hand President Xi Jinping a historic third term in office.<\/p>\n
The announcement comes a day before analysts had expected Beijing to publish some of its weakest quarterly growth figures since 2020 with the economy hobbled by Covid-19 restrictions and a real estate crisis.<\/p>\n
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the release of growth figures for the third quarter along with a host of other economic data would be “postponed”, without specifying a reason or giving a new timeline.<\/p>\n
The delay comes as officials from China’s ruling Communist Party meet in Beijing for their 20th Congress, which is set to rubber stamp Xi’s bid to rule for another term.<\/p>\n
Zhao Chenxin, senior official at the National Development and Reform Commission, told reporters on Monday that “the economy rebounded significantly in the third quarter”.<\/p>\n
“From a global perspective, China’s economic performance is still outstanding,” he said.<\/p>\n
But many analysts expect the world’s second-largest economy to struggle to reach its growth target this year of around 5.5 percent, with the International Monetary Fund lowering its forecast for GDP expansion to 3.2 percent.<\/p>\n
A panel of experts polled by AFP last week predicted an average of three percent growth in 2022 — a long way off the 8.1 percent seen last year.<\/p>\n
That would be China’s weakest growth rate in four decades, excluding 2020 when the global economy was hammered by the emergence of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n
The NBS said it would also postpone the release of monthly data on indicators including real estate and retail sales.<\/p>\n
Last week customs authorities delayed the release of September trade figures without providing an explanation.<\/p>\n
China ‘in a bind’<\/strong><\/p>\n Nick Marro, lead for global trade at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told AFP that signs point to “a really ugly Q3 data print, at a time when the party is focused on highlighting its policy achievements, while minimising any missteps”.<\/p>\n Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief economist at Natixis, said “nothing, not even GDP data release, can disturb the coronation of Xi Jinping”.<\/p>\n The delay “puts China in a bind”, Marro added.<\/p>\n “If it comes out with a rosier-than-expected data print, the national statistics bureau will inevitably face questions around data veracity,” he said.<\/p>\n China’s economy has been hit hard by the government’s strict zero-Covid policy.<\/p>\n The country is the last of the world’s major economies to continue to follow the strategy, which imposes tight travel restrictions, mass PCR testing and obligatory quarantines.<\/p>\n It also involves sudden and strict lockdowns — including of businesses and factories — that have disrupted production and weighed heavily on household consumption.<\/p>\n China is also battling an unprecedented crisis in its real estate sector — historically a major driver of growth that accounts for more than a quarter of GDP when combined with construction.<\/p>\n Following years of explosive growth fuelled by easy access to loans, Beijing launched a crackdown on excessive debt in 2020.<\/p>\n Property sales are now falling across the country, leaving many developers struggling and some owners refusing to pay their mortgages for unfinished homes.<\/p>\n (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n