China’s slowing economic growth boosts case for stimulus

China’s economy grew at the slowest pace in nearly four years in the second quarter, with sluggish consumption amid the fallout from the Iran war offsetting strong export growth. The 4.3 per cent increase in gross domestic product, down from 5 per cent in the first three months of the year, dragged first-half growth down to 4.7 per cent. While that is within Beijing’s annual target of “4.5 per cent to 5 per cent” GDP growth, the deceleration was bigger than economists surveyed by Chinese...