Last month, China’s imports and exports fell more than expected, and this made it harder for the world’s second-largest economy to get back on its feet.
In July, exports were 14.5% lower than they were a year earlier, and imports were 12.4% lower.
The bad trade numbers make it more likely that the country’s economy will grow more slowly this year.
It will put more pressure on Beijing to help speed up the recovery after the pandemic.
The weakest export numbers since February 2020 show that the rising cost of living and higher interest rates on loans in other parts of the world are hurting China’s recovery from the pandemic by lowering demand for its goods.
In China, too, demand has been lower than expected, and the economy hasn’t picked up after three years of strict lockdowns and bans meant to stop the spread of coronavirus.
China is the world’s biggest producer and one of its biggest importers. This means that its slow trade performance is likely to hurt the global economy.
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China’s youth unemployment goes above 21%, which is a record high.
Prices in China seem to be going down, which is different from most of the rest of the world. This is because businesses and customers came out of the zero-interest rate period unwilling to spend and with a lot of goods to sell.
But because youth unemployment is going up and the home market is in trouble, China’s leaders have not taken any big steps to boost the economy so far.
One of China’s biggest markets, the US, saw a 23.1% drop in exports.
The number of things the EU bought from China was also down by 20.6%. The EU and China have been fighting over semiconductor chips, which has led the Chinese government to limit exports of some of the most important materials used to make computer chips.
China had some of the strictest rules about coronavirus in the world. From March 2022 to June 2022, there was a full lockdown in Shanghai, which is the financial center of China and home to about 25 million people. The government sent food packages to people who were stuck in their homes.
