China's slowing growth will have a global impact

By most international standards, China's [4 per cent](//www.ft.com/content/5b0e09fb-1e02-4537-a44b-7b33cd43ba48) year-on-year growth in the fourth quarter of last year was a pretty solid performance. Yet while it was slightly above most analysts' predictions, it was the slowest pace of expansion for 18 months — representing a slide from 6.5 per cent growth during the same period of 2020. Overall, gross domestic product grew 8.1 per cent in 2021. Any sustained chill in Chinese expansion will have a global impact: according to IMF numbers, China is the biggest contributor to global GDP and was set to account for more than one-fifth of the…