[Hot Air] The news coming out of China’s economy continues to be a very mixed bag. Officially the country met its 5% growth target last year, but Evergrande is on the verge of liquidation, the stock market is down, foreign investment is down and the PMI numbers for January also show factory activity is still contracting.
China’s manufacturing activity contracted for the fourth straight month in January, an official factory survey showed on Wednesday, suggesting the sprawling sector was struggling to regain momentum at the start of 2024.
The official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to 49.2 in January from 49.0 in December, below the 50-mark separating growth from contraction and was in line with a median forecast of 49.2 in a Reuters poll.
So what do you do if you’re a one-party state and the news has a negative edge? You censor it of course. That’s precisely what China has been doing. |