Headlines about China’s weak growth are somewhat misleading

The above is pointed out by a report of The Economist 0n 23 January, 2019. The headlines ignore that China's economy has a much larger base, adding 8 trillion yuan in 2018 compared with 5 trillion yuan in 2007, the year with the fastest growth (14.2%) in recent decades. Moreover, shortfalls in foreign sales were offset by much larger domestic consumption. As for marginal utility of credit, "in 2015 it took more than four yuan of new credit to generate each yuan of incremental GDP. In 2018 that multiple fell to 2.5, in line with China’s average over the past 15 years," the report says. This could mean that Beijing is somewhat less worried about the trade war that it is portrayed to be.