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Explainer | China’s GDP, population, youth-jobless rate: 6 takeaways from the economy in January
- China confirmed its economy grew by 5.2 per cent in 2023, while also revealing its population fell to 1.4097 billion
- Authorities resumed the release of China’s youth-unemployment data, with a twist, and announced a cut in the total cash that commercial banks must hold in reserve, to ease market concerns
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China GDP: Beijing’s long to-do list to boost its economy in 2024
China GDP: Beijing’s long to-do list to boost its economy in 2024
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1. China’s recovery is ‘still shaky’ despite 5.2% growth in 2023
One of the most anticipated events in January was the confirmation that China’s economy grew by 5.2 per cent in 2023, which met the “around 5 per cent” growth target.
The world’s second-largest economy, though, is still facing multiple headwinds in the early going of 2024, particularly after property investment fell by 9.6 per cent in 2023.
Beijing is set to reveal its annual gross domestic product growth target in March, but cities and provinces started to confirm their own goals in January.
The southern powerhouse of Guangdong province said it would aim to grow its economy by 5 per cent this year, though some of China’s most indebted regions have set more conservative economic growth targets.
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Analysts said China’s economic “recovery is still shaky”, and that achieving the same pace of growth in 2024 will prove a lot more challenging than last year.
2. Population decline a ‘concerning trend’
Another highly watched figure in January was China’s population figure for 2023, which confirmed that the overall population fell by 2.08 million in 2023, while births declined by 5.6 per cent to 9.02 million.
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