The lowered growth figure reflects China's economic slowdown, triggered in part by the collapse of the country's property sector, which once accounted for between 25 and 30 percent of GDP. The growth target is quite realistic, the Economist Intelligence Unit's China economist Tianchen Xu said, noting the figure reflected China's trend towards more conservative expectations.
Youth unemployment is at the highest level since the Covid pandemic, as younger people bear the brunt of a worsening slowdown in the UK jobs market. Excluding the peak recorded during the autumn of 2020, when the country was entering the second pandemic lockdown, the jobless rate for 16 to 24-year-olds running at 15.3% is at the highest level in a decade.
Argentina's president, Javier Milei, has suffered his worst electoral defeat since taking office, as he faces his administration's most serious corruption scandal and signs that the economy is slowing. In local legislative elections on Sunday for Buenos Aires province home to almost 40% of the country's electorate the coalition led by the self-styled anarcho-capitalist was beaten by the opposition by 47% to 34%.
