Key indicators point to further slowdown of the Chinese economy, and continued turbulence in the Shanghai stock market gives jitters to market participants across the globe. Given the worldwide impact a stalling of the China's economy could have, the leadership in Beijing needs to make wise moves to put the world's second-largest economy on a path of stable growth.
China's gross domestic product in the April-June period managed to grow 7 percent in real terms from a year before — the same performance as in the previous quarter — defying prevalent forecasts that the growth rate would dip below 7 percent. A series of stimulus measures introduced by the government, including four rounds of interest rate cuts since November and increased public works spending, appear to have born fruit.
Still, the 7 percent growth for two quarters in a row — exactly the same level as the government projection for the whole 2015 — has raised doubts about the accuracy of statistics. It is often said that economic statistics in China are untrustworthy, and suspicions have been raised that GDP data for the two quarters may have been manipulated. China needs to carry out a proactive disclosure of relevant information to improve the reliability of its economic data and dispel such suspicions.