Did China’s GDP rebound in the third quarter?

China’s gross domestic product grew just 0.4 per cent in the second quarter of the year, surprising analysts to the downside, as the full effects of the country’s economically-throttling zero-Covid policy exceeded expectations.

Since then, a number of global banks, including UBS, ANZ, HSBC, Barclays and Nomura, have all downgraded their full-year forecasts for the world’s second-largest economy. The World Bank, meanwhile, now predicts growth in the rest of Asia will outpace that of China for the first time since 1990.

The medium-term pressures weighing on China’s economy — weak consumer demand and uncertain business prospects in the face of repeated lockdowns — have not eased significantly over the past few months. A closely watched gauge of manufacturing sector activity, meanwhile, suggested a further contraction in activity in September.