Beijing hit its GDP growth target of 5 percent in 2024, according to its statistics bureau—but deflationary pressures remain.

China notified the International Monetary Fund on Thursday that its economy grew by 5% in 2024, IMF Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told reporters, calling the development a "positive surprise" compared to the IMF's forecast of 4.

Analysts say they see signs of malaise in China’s domestic economy, but those problems were offset mainly by robust exports and a $1 trillion trade surplus.

China's economy grew 5% last year, matching the government's target, but in a lopsided fashion, with many people complaining of worsening living standards as Beijing struggles to transfer its industrial and export gains to consumers.

China's GDP growth rate in 2024 exceeded expectations, as effective policy supports underpinned economic resilience, a lead analyst at a global ratings agency told the Global Times on Saturday. "China's economy rebounded more than we had anticipated in the fourth quarter on the back of a step-up in fiscal stimulus and strong export performance.

Gao’s sin? Saying that China may have grown just 2% over the last two or three years, less than half the rate Xi’s government claims. The reason Gao is allegedly being silenced is for shining a brighter-than-usual spotlight on one of the biggest perception problems facing Xi’s Communist Party: that China routinely cooks the GDP books.

China’s population has fallen for the third straight year, pointing to further demographic challenges for the world’s second most populous nation that is now facing both an aging population and an emerging shortage of working age people able to support their elders.

As if the yuan wasn’t already under pressure from the weak Chinese economy, a surging dollar and the prospect of higher US tariffs, the currency faces an additional downdraft: a flood of money looking to invest overseas.

China's economic growth likely fell fractionally short of the government's five percent target last year, according to an AFP survey, as leaders head into 2025 steeling for the second presidency of Donald Trump amid fears of another painful trade standoff.

A top Civil Affairs Ministry official stressed new reforms must be rolled out over the next decade to be effective.

Lack of adequate employment opportunities, unsettled borders, and its position in the human development index are some of the weaknesses India needs to address to realise the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047,