China’s economy lost more momentum last quarter even as it met the government’s target in 2025, in another year of lopsided growth that will be hard to sustain in an era of protectionism around the world, informed Bloomberg.
While industrial production held up well in December, retail sales and investment worsened more than forecast. The world’s second-largest economy expanded 4.5% last quarter from a year earlier, the slowest pace since the reopening from Covid lockdowns in late 2022.
For the full year, gross domestic product rose 5%, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday, confirming an estimate given by President Xi Jinping in a speech on New Year’s Eve and matching the expansion in 2024.
Consumer spending and business investment remain sluggish, as a weak jobs market and falling home prices weigh on domestic demand. Instead, industrial production rose 5.2% on year in December, the fastest pace in three months and slightly better than forecasts by economists
Retail sales inched up just 0.9% last month, the weakest since the Covid reopening and compared with an estimated 1% increase, and fixed-asset investment contracted 3.8% in 2025, the first annual decline in data starting almost three decades ago. Property investment declined 17.2% in the year.
