Part 4/14:
The pandemic-induced slowdown in 2019 disrupted global trade, yet China’s exports surged unexpectedly by 2024. This rebound was artificially inflated: net exports contributed over 1.5 percentage points to GDP growth, making the official 5% figure seem impressive at first glance. But strip away the export boost, and the underlying organic growth is a mere 3.2%. When compared to other middle-income nations—Malaysia at 5.1%, Kazakhstan and Russia at around 4.3-4.8%—China’s real growth looks dire.