Forget About It: China’s Economy Can’t Grow Like Gangbusters Anymore

The days of 8-10 percent growth in China are over, given the economy’s vast size and transition to a consumer-driven economy. ‘It can not only not happen during the transition, but it cannot happen as an economy starts getting as large as the economy [is] in China,’ said Anthony Chan, chief economist at JPMorgan Chase, based in New York. ‘It’s now the second largest economy and it’s not the same economy that it was when it was growing at 9 or 10 percent.’ The International Monetary Fund expects China’s gross domestic product to rise 6.3 percent in 2016, down from the 6.8 percent projected growth the economy saw in 2015. That’s a far cry from the roughly 10 percent growth seen just six years ago. ‘The economy is sluggish on the manufacturing side, but everyone should have known that because they’re transitioning to a more service oriented economy and the service sector is a bit brighter than the manufacturing sector,’ Chan added. TheStreet’s Scott Gamm reports from New York.