China’s economy continued to power ahead last month according to the latest slew of purchasing managers index figures released on Wednesday, despite the enforced factory shutdown in southern China caused by November’s Asian Games.
The 2008 Olympics led a lot of analysts to miss the slump in the Chinese economy from the global financial crisis. With much of industry around Beijing closed down for several months during the August games in order to cleanse the air, it did not become obvious until October that the fall-off in industry was actually the result of weak demand, and not just a temporary blip created by the Olympics jamboree.
The Asian Games, which ended at the weekend with a spectacular ceremony (pictured), raise the opposite risk - that the economy is perhaps growing even more strongly than the headline figures suggest, which would be alarming given the recent surge in inflation.