Against the setting of the National People’s Congress, which opened today, China’s leaders announced that the growth target for the economy in 2019 would be 6%-6.5%, down slightly from the 2018 target of 6.6%.
That dip is significant, since the Chinese Communist Party will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic this year. The temptation to “go for the growth” in a celebratory year must have been tremendous. It is a sign of how constricting a box China’s economy is caught in.
On the one hand, the economy is definitely slowing. Cellphone shipments fell 13% in January. Car sales dropped 16% in January, for a seventh straight month of decline. The number of unsold houses is the highest in two years. …
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