China's trade surplus hits record $101 billion

China's trade surplus (that is, how much exports exceed imports) in dollar terms amounted to $101.26 billion in July 2022, up 81.5% from a year earlier, according to data from the General Administration of Customs of China. This is a record figure according to data available since 1987, Bloomberg notes.

According to Chinese customs, the total volume of exports and imports in July amounted to $564.66 billion (an increase of 11%), exports increased by 18% to $332.96 billion, imports by 2% to $231.7 billion.

The record trade surplus was primarily affected by the volume of exports, the growth of which exceeded the 14.1% forecast by analysts, the agency writes.

"Strong export growth continues to help China's economy through a challenging year as domestic demand remains sluggish," said Zhang Zhiwei, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management.

Exports were an important factor for China during the pandemic, but the contribution of developed countries to the growth of the Chinese economy will weaken this year due to high inflation in other countries and a slowdown in the global economy, the agency said.

In March, the Politburo of the Communist Party of China announced a goal of 5.5% economic growth in 2022. At a meeting in late July, the PRC leadership stated the need to strive for the "best result", without mentioning the goal of economic growth. The March target should now be a guideline rather than a hard requirement to be met, agency sources explained.

Due to the outbreaks of COVID-19 , restrictions due to it and the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine, the slowdown in China's economic growth turned out to be more significant than expected, the International Monetary Fund said at the end of July. They predicted the growth of the Chinese economy by the end of 2022 by 3.3%, in the April forecast it was expected at 4.4%.

The slowdown in the three main economies of the world - the United States , China and the eurozone - threatens the growth of the global economy, the IMF pointed out. In this regard, the forecast for global GDP growth was revised in July to 3.2%, and in April the IMF expected it at 3.6%.