Chart of the day: China GDP gets real

The mainland's real gross domestic product growth is holding up well against the government's official forecast - almost too well for many analysts, given the evident downward pressure on demand, swelling domestic debt and signs of manipulation of the GDP deflator. BNP Paribas economists have calculated a "real real" GDP measure based on nominal growth, consumer and producer prices. In the second quarter, it was 5.5 per cent year on year, compared with the official 7.5 per cent growth. BNP says data so far in the third quarter leaves the National Bureau of Statistics later this month faced with a choice of admitting the economy's slide into deflation or a politically unacceptable slowdown in official GDP growth.