Skepticism Grows About China’s Economic Data

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By Trey Thoelcke Published
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The fall-off in China’s factory activity may be beyond what Chinese central government officials have admitted so far. Pockets of pessimism have begun to crop up across the country. Zhou Dewen, who runs a lobbying group in the Wenzhou Provence, expressed deep concern, according to the Financial Times. He said China’s economic trouble is deeper than in 2008, which was at the bottom point of the global recession.

Dewen’s comments are the start of a battle between Chinese officials and expert dissenters. China’s official economists continue to insist that GDP improvement will be at least 7.7% this year, with a rise above 8% in 2013. Outsiders and some Chinese businessmen cannot see how this is possible with the recession in Europe and a sharply slowing U.S. economy. These people fairly ask where China’s exports will go and how its factory activity can remain strong with buckling demand among its export partners.

There is no positive response the government can give to that question, unless it plans to buy what some factories yield by itself.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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