China’s economic growth accelerates but weak amid shutdowns

China's economic growth accelerated in the latest quarter but still was among the weakest in decades as the ruling Communist Party tries to reverse a downturn while enforcing anti-virus controls and a crackdown on debt in its vast real estate industry.

The world's second-largest economy grew by 3.9 percent over a year earlier in the three months ending in September, up from the previous quarter's 0.4 percent, official data showed yesterday.

The planned release of data last week was postponed while the ruling Communist Party met to award President Xi Jinping a new term as leader. Investors and the Chinese public watched the meeting for initiatives to stimulate the economy or reduce the impact of the ``Zero COVID'' strategy that has shut down cities and disrupted business, but none were announced.

The improvement is ``mainly a result of more flexible'' anti-virus controls that isolate individual buildings or neighborhoods instead of cities, said Iris Pang of ING in a report. But she said more lockdowns are ``still a big uncertainty."
``This uncertainty means the effectiveness of pro-growth policy would be undermined,'' Pang said.

No data were immediately released for growth compared with the previous quarter, the way other major economies are measured. In the quarter ending in June, the economy shrank by 2.6% from the previous three-month period.
Growth slid in the second half of 2021 after controls on debt that regulators worry is dangerously high caused a slowdown in real estate, one of China's biggest economic engines. Growth slumped to 4% over a year earlier in the final quarter.

Beijing has eased mortgage lending and local governments have taken over some unfinished projects to make sure buyers get apartments. But...