HONG KONG — China said Monday that its economy grew 4.5% for the July-September quarter from a year earlier fueled by robust exports, moving closer to meeting its official annual growth target as the year nears its end and at a time when its trading partners feel an increased urgency in balancing their trade deficits with the world’s second-biggest economy.
\n\nThe better-than-expected official data accelerated from the 4.3% year-on-year growth recorded in the April-June quarter, which was the slowest expansion in more than three years.
\n\nFor the whole year, Chinese leaders have set a growth target of 4.5% to 5%, down from last year’s 5% expansion. Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund trimmed its forecast for China’s 2026 economic growth to 4.5%, just meeting the lower end of Beijing’s goal.
\n\nThe headline official growth figure is becoming “an increasingly poor indicator of how the broader economy is performing,” said Max Zenglein, Asia-Pacific senior economist at the Conference Board.
\n\nThat’s because it masks “widening disparities across industries, regions and households,” Zenglein said. Beijing faces difficult trade-offs, and managing domestic imbalances may prove more challenging than dealing with external pressures, he said.
\n\nChina’s domestic demand has weakened, weighed down by a…
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