Why China's economy may be heading for a hard landing

May 17, 2012

An alarming batch of economic indicators from China in the past 10 days has cast a pall over the country’s economic growth prospects, rekindling debate about whether one of the few bright spots in the world economy may be heading for a hard landing.

 

And the government’s initial efforts to pull out of the dive suggest that it may be putting off – once again – long promised policies to rebalance the Chinese economy by relying more on consumption than on its traditional growth drivers, exports, and investment. 

 

Industrial production grew by only 9.3 percent in April, year on year, its slowest rate since the financial crisis. “That is a real and serious problem,” says Xiang Songzuo, chief economist for the giant China Agricultural Bank.