The dozens of abandoned, unfinished buildings in the central business district of Kaifeng, a city of 5m in central China, are a telling symbol of China’s stuttering efforts to stimulate its economy — and the dwindling effect it is having on global growth.
Previous slowdowns, most notably in 2008 and 2015, saw the ruling Communist party approve huge lending programmes to spur construction, reviving the domestic economy and boosting global demand.
But although growth has this year slowed to its lowest level for three decades, posing a substantial drag on the global economy, Beijing’s policy response has been limited to measures such as tax reforms, cuts to bank reserve requirements and tweaks to local government bond issuance.