News Snapshot:
China has “certainly become more of a black box, and it’s just continuously moving in that trajectory”, said Shehzad Qazi, chief operating officer at China Beige Book, which publishes alternative economic indicators based on surveys of private companies in the country. The surveys have consistently implied weaker consumption than official figures show. Longstanding questions over how to interpret China’s economic indicators have a new sense of urgency in 2023, when official data has pointed to a loss of momentum following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. Policymakers are grappling with trade headwinds, weak consumption and a property cash crunch that has...