China’s economy slowing. But how bad is it?

U.S. news media have been reporting for two years that the Chinese economy is slowing. 

China's economy is slowing

In 2010 China’s economy grew at a robust 12%.  In 2015 International Monetary Fund was projecting that Chinese growth would fall to 6.8% in 2015, and 6.3% in 2016. In fact, the Chinese economy actually grew 6.7% in 2016.

For the first quarter of 2017 China’s economy grew 6.9%; that is up from 6.8% in the last quarter of 2016. It is projected to grow 6.5% in 2017.

A 6.5% economic growth is nearly half China’s 12% growth in 2010. But 6.5% growth is still the envy of almost every other nation.

But not compared to all other economies

The International Monetary Fund recently predicted that the world economy will grow 3.5% this year. That is up from 3.1% in 2016. The IMF’s latest outlook for 2017 is a slight upgrade from the 3.4% global growth it had forecast at the start of the year. 

The IMF expects the U.S. economy will grow 2.3%, up from 1.6% in 2016. The IMF’s prediction is that the 19-country eurozone will expand by 1.7%. That is the same as 2016. Japan is anticipated to grow 1.2%, up from 1% in 2016.

Sources: Money, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Quartz