Bloomberg quoted economists as saying that US economic growth is expected to surpass China this year, the first time since 1976,
According to Bloomberg, the prolonged impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and outbreaks and recidivism across the country means that China's economic growth will stagnate, despite financial and monetary stimulus measures and regulations from Beijing.
Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predict that the Chinese economy will only grow by 2% this year, much lower than Beijing's official growth target of "about 5.5%" for 2022.
Even in an upward scenario, the 5% growth target - not to mention the government's 5.5% target - appears attainable, analysts say.
Meanwhile, the US economy is expected to grow by about 2.8%, despite high inflation for many years, largely due to consumer spending.
China and the US have long been competitors for economic growth. According to Bloomberg, US President Joe Biden has built his economic agenda partly around the goal of showing that governments can compete more economically than China's economic model. In the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, the US increased GDP by 5.5%, while China only grew by 4%.
However, according to Citigroup economists Xiangrong Yu and Xiaowen Jin, China still has options to change the situation. At this point, timely and decisive implementation of stimulus measures is really important to get growth back on track, said two economists from Citigroup.
