WASHINGTON, DC: The China bubble has burst. No longer are the country’s economic managers viewed as magicians who can orchestrate rapid growth whatever the obstacles. No one ever believed that China’s economy would grow 10 percent annually forever, but the retreat from double-digit growth has been faster than expected and underlies the country’s stock market turmoil and its global repercussions.
China is such an economic colossus that a few percentage points shaved off its growth can have enormous effects. Consider the numbers. From 2007 to 2011, China’s annual economic growth did average 10.6 percent, says the International Monetary Fund. For the next three years, the average was 7.6 percent. The figure for 2015 is widely estimated at 6.9 percent. The fallout is now spreading.
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