ALLIANCE FO§ DEMOCRACY

Stumbling Match

The DPA-AFX news agency in Frankfurt am Main reported on 21 October 2014 that China, the world’s second largest economy, saw its slowest growth in five years in the third quarter. The figures were issued by the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing.
Although analysts had expected even worse results, compared to the same period the previous year, the economy grew by 7.3% between July and September 2014; state leaders had expected 7.5%.
Although it all might seem like a question of luxury, especially to all of the bankrupt European states languishing near zero growth, China's party and state leaders have deliberately foregone double-digit growth rates so that the economy may be restructured. It is supposed to become more effective, more efficient and more profitable. None of this will work, however, without supporting those who do the work: thousands upon thousands of white-collar and blue-collar workers. Party and state leaders want to create more jobs. Almost 10 million jobs were added in the first eight months of 2014, according to an announcement by Premier Li Keqiang at the Economic Forum in Tianjin.
Whether this economic trend is actually justified by the "protection of the labour market", as the head of state claimed a month ago, is uncertain: What is certain is that, with lower numbers, Chinese economic growth should level off. The business research association, the Conference Board, predicted a slump in China's economic data over the next 10 years. Growth will be an average of 5.5% between 2015 and 2019; between 2020 and 2025, growth will decelerate further to an average of 3.9%, according to one analysis. How difficult it will be for economic powerhouse China to restructure the economy and create sufficient jobs at the same time remains to be seen. It also remains to be seen how the economy shapes up for the bankrupt European countries and the United States, whose economy is groaning and whose national budget comes close to collapsing every month, and how much the Chinese economy weakens. For jobs to remain affordable there, the country must export and develop technology. However, in the course of world affairs, if fewer and fewer countries have anything to sell at all, as production is restricted because consumers have less buying power, and the currencies that affect world affairs, such as the euro or dollar, weaken, this will hardly impact China's economic development, because when economies barely evolve, business partners are also weakened.