By the standards of China’s rip-roaring economic growth over the past 30 years, “around 5.5%”—the official target for 2022, released over the weekend—is positively leisurely.
By the standards of 2022, it will be a heavy lift: Fourth-quarter growth in 2021 was just 4% year over year and the nation is still confronting a stark property slowdown and headwinds to consumption from China’s “zero-Covid” policy, which mandates tough containment measures for even limited outbreaks.
