Shocking Yet Normal? China’s 2023 GDP Growth Is -4.9% or -9.5% (Jennifer Zeng, 1/30/24, Japan Today)
From 2008 to 2012, the actual figures were lower than the official figures, but the differences weren’t too big, from 5 trillion to 0.1 trillion.
From 2013 to 2017, the actual GDP figures calculated using the expenditure method were even greater than the official numbers.
This shows that the GDP calculated using the expenditure method is not always smaller than the official figures. In 2014, it was even more than ￥17 trillion RMB ($2.37 billion USD) higher than the official figure.
Therefore, the expenditure method does not have a so-called “systematic bias” that will underestimate GDP.
In the six years from 2018 to 2023, the gap between the actual figures and the official figures grew wider and wider. Then in 2023, it was more than ￥33 trillion RMB, or about $4.79 trillion USD.
What does this indicate?
It shows that the actual economic situation in China is rapidly declining. Therefore, the scale of fraud also has to be rapidly increased to maintain the so-called 5% growth target.
By the way, the decline in China’s GDP in 2023, if it is denominated in US dollars, is minus 9.5%, not minus 4.9%. That is due to the changes in the ratio of the renminbi to the US dollar.
Lastly, the United States’ GDP in 2023 is estimated to be around $26.85 trillion USD. So if China’s actual GDP is $13.09 trillion, then China’s GDP is only about 49% of the United States, which makes it lower than anything anyone has ever talked about before.