China has reported that its economy expanded at a 5% annual pace in 2024, slower than the year before but still hitting Beijing’s target of “around 5%” growth

Analysts say they see signs of malaise in China’s domestic economy, but those problems were offset mainly by robust exports and a $1 trillion trade surplus.

Gao’s sin? Saying that China may have grown just 2% over the last two or three years, less than half the rate Xi’s government claims. The reason Gao is allegedly being silenced is for shining a brighter-than-usual spotlight on one of the biggest perception problems facing Xi’s Communist Party: that China routinely cooks the GDP books.

Beijing hit its GDP growth target of 5 percent in 2024, according to its statistics bureau—but deflationary pressures remain.

China’s population has fallen for the third straight year, pointing to further demographic challenges for the world’s second most populous nation that is now facing both an aging population and an emerging shortage of working age people able to support their elders.

China said that its economy expanded by 5% last year, but a variety of weak signals have made some outside economists dubious.

China's economic growth likely fell fractionally short of the government's five percent target last year, according to an AFP survey, as leaders head into 2025 steeling for the second presidency of Donald Trump amid fears of another painful trade standoff.

China's leaders are bracing for potential shocks to the economy from higher tariffs once U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

China's economy expanded at a 5% annual pace in 2024, slower than the year before but in line with Beijing’s target of “around 5%” growth, helped by strong exports and recent stimulus measures.In quarterly terms,