Ian Explains: Why China’s era of high growth is over
August 11, 2023
Highlights from the GZERO World with Ian Bremmer weekly television show.
Is China still on track to becoming the world’s largest economy? Ian Bremmer breaks down China’s great economic slowdown.
Between 1978 and 2017, China averaged almost 10% year-over-year GDP growth. Decades of pro-investment policies transformed China from a closed, centrally-planned economy to an economic powerhouse that could rival the US.
But President Xi Xinping has been moving China away from the pro-investment policies of his predecessors and back to its socialist roots. In recent years, the government has cracked down on everything from technology to finance to entertainment to foreign investment.
At the same time, 3 years of Zero-Covid policies sapped domestic spending and production. Decades of infrastructure investment have left local governments drowning in debt. China’s once-hot real estate market is in a massive slump. And youth unemployment is surging to record highs, threatening the very social pact that gives the Chinese Communist Party legitimacy in widespread support.
Can China’s communist ideology and capitalist ambition sustain growth into the future? Or does what goes up eventually have to come down?
For more on China’s lagging economy, watch the upcoming episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer on US public television and at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld.
Every week on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, Ian explains the key global stories of the moment, sits down for an in-depth conversation with the newsmakers and thought leaders shaping our world.
Watch GZERO World on US public television and on GZERO's YouTube channel. GZERO WORLD with Ian Bremmer is a local public television program presented by THIRTEEN PBS.
Keep up with what’s going on around the world - and why it matters.