Hello and welcome. You are listening to Patrick Boyle on Finance, a podcast exploring ideas from quantitative finance, examining events occurring in markets right now and financial history to see what lessons can be taken away, including interviews with some of the most interesting people in the world of finance. To learn more about the podcast, visit

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China's most recent GDP numbers showed that the economy grew 3.9% year-on-year, which beat

analyst expectations, but fell well short of China's full year target of

5.5%, which is already the lowest target that they've set in 30 years.

China's real estate collapse, combined with the strict zero COVID policies, have severely

reduced consumer activity in the country. In dollar terms, spending

on imports is up 0.3% from a year ago. But if we take foreign exchange and rising prices

into account, China's real import demand is down about 8% since the lockdowns began. China's exports, however, continue to rise, providing

foreign consumers and businesses with the goods that they need. The real estate

slowdown in China has been quite severe. Looking at the first nine months of this year,

property sales in China are down 22%, and new construction

starts are down 38%, while property investment has fallen 8%.

Policymakers in China have loosened key policy rates and taken measures to ensure the completion

of construction projects, many of which have been stalled

due to the financial stress that property developers have been under.

One of the global benefits of China's slowdown this year, or at least the timing of that

slowdown, has been reduced Chinese demand for things like metals,

energy, food and capital goods, which is cutting into the inflationary pressures in the rest

of the world at a time when inflation has become quite a problem.

Inflation has been more subdued in large Asian economies like China and Japan over the last year

than in the rest of the world.

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