Reported by Shreya Chakraborty, KICI TV News, July 15th, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China\u2019s economic momentum slowed sharply in the second quarter, as a crippling combination of weak domestic consumer demand and surging global oil prices driven by the ongoing war in Iran overshadowed an otherwise historic boom in exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200bOfficial data released Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by just 4.3% between April and June. The figure marks the lowest quarterly expansion the country has seen since emerging from its strict zero-COVID restrictions at the end of 2022. It also represents a notable drop from the 5% growth recorded in the first quarter, leaving Beijing trailing behind its annual growth target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200bIn a strategic shift back in March, Beijing proactively lowered its full-year economic growth target to a flexible range of 4.5% to 5%\u2014its lowest goal since 1991. However, this latest data, which captures the first full quarter of economic reality since the outbreak of the Iran conflict on February 28, highlights just how difficult achieving that target will be. In an official statement, China\u2019s statistics bureau acknowledged the strain, citing an influx of “external instability and uncertainty factors” alongside a stark imbalance between strong industrial production and anemic domestic demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200bThe domestic numbers paint a clear picture of the hurdles Beijing faces at home. The country\u2019s real estate market remains stuck in a prolonged slump, with new home prices contracting yet again in June, though the 0.1% dip showed a marginal stabilization compared to May. Meanwhile, consumers are keeping their wallets firmly shut; retail sales crept up by a meager 1% in June, offering only a slight rebound from the 0.6% contraction seen the previous month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200bWhile the central bank in Beijing has introduced a series of monetary easing measures, including interest rate cuts and liquidity injections into the banking system, analysts argue these steps have yet to stimulate meaningful private sector investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200bInternational economists warn that without aggressive structural reforms to pivot the economy toward consumer-led growth, China may face a prolonged period of stagnation, with significant ripple effects for global supply chains and trade partners worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200bMarket analysts note that Chinese businesses are currently absorbing the brunt of skyrocketing energy and raw material costs triggered by the geopolitical crisis, as local consumers simply lack the purchasing power to absorb price hikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200bThe silver lining for Beijing remains its powerhouse export sector, which surged by 27% in June compared to last year. This trade boom is being propelled almost entirely by two major global trends: an insatiable international demand for semiconductors to power artificial intelligence data centers, and a massive global appetite for Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), which pushed monthly automobile exports past the historic one-million mark for the very first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200bYet, while global tech and EV buyers are keeping China’s factories humming for now, economists warn that exports alone cannot carry the world\u2019s second-largest economy. As long as global energy markets remain volatile and domestic consumers remain hesitant to spend, Beijing faces an uphill battle to stabilize its economic future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reported by Shreya Chakraborty, KICI TV News, July 15th, 2026 China\u2019s economic momentum slowed sharply in the second quarter, as a crippling combination of weak domestic consumer demand and surging global oil prices driven by the ongoing war in Iran overshadowed an otherwise historic boom in exports. \u200bOfficial data released Wednesday by the National Bureau […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,8,22,87,23],"tags":[91],"class_list":["post-184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alerts","category-asia","category-economy","category-live","category-markets","tag-kici-tv-news"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.kicifm.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/InShot_20260715_155704523.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.kicifm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.kicifm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.kicifm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.kicifm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.kicifm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.kicifm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185,"href":"https:\/\/news.kicifm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions\/185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.kicifm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.kicifm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.kicifm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.kicifm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}