China’s population fell in 2022 for the first time in six decades, while economic growth last year missed Beijing’s annual target.
The population decline is expected to have long-term consequences for the domestic and global economies, as the world’s most populous country has long been a crucial source of labour and demand.
The National Bureau of Statistics said today that the total population fell by 850,000 in 2022 to 1.41bn. Last year’s birth rate was the lowest since records began more than seven decades ago — 6.77 births for every 1,000 people, down from 10.41 in 2019.
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China’s strict zero-Covid policy of containing coronavirus is widely seen to have accelerated the fall in the country’s birth rate, as couples delayed or decided against having children.
The anti-pandemic strategy, which was abruptly abandoned last month, has also been blamed for an economic slowdown. China’s gross domestic product expanded by just 3 per cent in 2022, well below the government’s target of 5.5 per cent.
Five more stories in the news
1. Yellen to meet Chinese economic tsar The US Treasury secretary will meet her opposite number, Chinese vice-premier Liu He, in Switzerland this week. The move signals Washington and Beijing’s commitment to improving ties despite simmering tensions over trade and Taiwan.
Yellen also set to visit Africa: Yellen’s meeting with China’s top economic official comes ahead of a 10-day visit to Africa by the former chair of the Federal Reserve. You can read a preview of that trip here.
2. Meme stock investor launches activist campaign against Alibaba Ryan Cohen, the investor behind rallies at GameStop and Bed, Bath and Beyond, is pressing Alibaba to speed up its share buyback plan after acquiring a minority stake in the Chinese ecommerce group. Cohen started lobbying Alibaba, which has a market capitalisation of more than $300bn, in the second half of last year.
3. Olaf Scholz picks new defence minister The German chancellor has picked the interior minister of Lower Saxony to be his next defence minister. Christine Lambrecht quit yesterday following a series of gaffes. The change of leadership at the top of the ministry comes as Berlin faces a momentous decision on whether to send tanks to Ukraine — and whether or not to allow other European nations to do so.
4. PwC resigns as Evergrande’s auditor Indebted Chinese property developer Evergrande said today that global accounting firm PwC had resigned as its auditor, citing different views on financial statements under investigation by Hong Kong regulators. The Accounting and Financial Reporting Council in Hong Kong has been investigating Evergrande and PwC since 2021 over the property developer’s 2020 accounts.
5. Russian paramilitary defects Andrei Medvedev, a former Russian paramilitary fighting in Ukraine, has promised to give evidence against the notorious Wagner group after making a dramatic escape and seeking asylum in Norway. Medvedev, who says he served as a commander for the mercenary group, is the first former member of the unit known to have defected to the west since the war started.
The day ahead
Investment bank earnings Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are expected to provide details of the impact last year’s slowdown in deal making and initial public offerings had on profits when they report earnings this morning.
Tesla trial Jury selection is set to begin today in San Francisco for a securities fraud trial over tweets sent by Elon Musk in 2018 in which the electric vehicle company’s chief executive said he was considering taking the carmaker private.
Bank of Japan begins policy meeting The yen neared a seven-month high against the dollar as the Japanese central bank began a two-day interest rate meeting. It is the penultimate meeting to be chaired by the BoJ’s longest serving governor, Haruhiko Kuroda.
Economic data Consumer prices in Canada are expected to have moderated in December, with the annual pace of inflation forecast to come in at 6.3 per cent, according to a Refinitiv survey. That would follow November’s 6.8 per cent pace.
Davos day two The World Economic Forum continues today. Tune in to the Davos Daily Show, hosted by the FT’s Andrew Hill, from 12pm GMT January 17-19. Register here for free.
What else we’re reading
Microsoft’s $10bn bet marks new era of AI The US software giant is considering a $10bn investment in OpenAI, the San Francisco-based developer of ChatGPT. If the company is right about the technology’s far-reaching implications, it could trigger a realignment in the AI world as other tech groups race to stake out their place in the new field.
How Apple tied its fortunes to China The company spent two decades and billions of dollars building a supply chain of unprecedented sophistication, with 95 per cent of iPhones, iPads, Macs and AirPods being manufactured in China. This has created Apple’s biggest vulnerability: its dependence on a single country that has grown increasingly authoritarian and estranged from the west. Tomorrow the two-part series looks at what avenues Apple has to diversify beyond China.
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Looming Twitter interest payment leaves Musk with unpalatable options After borrowing $13bn from a Morgan Stanley-led bank syndicate, Elon Musk is facing his first repayment on the debt he used to purchase Twitter. In order to cover the payments the billionaire has a range of unpalatable options, from bankruptcy proceedings to another costly sale of Tesla shares.
There is no lasting path to Russian victory Putin’s war has left his country isolated in Europe, while permanent occupation of Ukraine is unfeasible, writes Gideon Rachman. Russia will only have a chance of rebuilding its moral, economic and international status if it ends the war.
Philip Lane: ‘We haven’t seen “normal” in Europe for a long time’ The European Central Bank’s chief economist speaks with Martin Wolf about the institution’s response to global shocks, sustainable debt levels and a digital euro. “2022 was a year of a big pivot,” says Lane, “a big transition from accommodative towards restrictive policy.”
Take a break from the news
There was no shortage of gadgets for the home at this month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Adrian Justins rounds up the ones that caught his eye, from wireless televisions to an oven that uses artificial intelligence.
Source: Economy - ft.com
