China’s 2023 GDP forecasts twisted and turned as prognosticators puzzled over country’s future

In a year that began with hopes for a barnstorming recovery but now seems to have come to a more uncertain end, world financial institutions wavered dramatically in their forecasts for China’s economic growth as optimism buckled under the weight of concerns like unemployment and an unstable property market.

Predictions about the fate of China’s gross domestic product (GDP), a flagship figure that steers global investment and trade, have bobbled to a greater degree than in pre-Covid 2019, according to historic data gathered by European consensus forecast provider FocusEconomics.