Chinese President Xi Jinping has signaled no change in direction for two main risk factors dragging down China¡¯s economy ¡ª strict COVID-19 rules and housing market policies ¡ª providing little lift to a worsening growth outlook.
Xi praised ¡°COVID zero,¡± his no-tolerance approach to containing infections, during a speech opening the 20th Communist Party congress in Beijing on Sunday, although he didn¡¯t reference the virus again in sections laying out plans for the future. His slogans on China¡¯s property market, meanwhile, repeated prior language even as the sector experiences its longest-ever slump due to policies aimed at curbing debt and financial risks.
Those two factors have been a major drag on the world¡¯s second-largest economy, with economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicting growth of just 3.3% this year ¡ª the second-weakest pace in more than four decades. Third-quarter gross domestic product data, due to be released Tuesday, will likely show a muted recovery from almost stagnant growth in the second quarter.
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