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China Q2 GDP prints at 4.3%, slowest since 2022, falls below Beijing's own target floor

7/20/2026

China's second-quarter GDP growth came in at 4.3%, the softest quarterly reading since 2022, falling short of market expectations and below the low end of Beijing's own full-year target range.

The print puts the annual growth trajectory outside a band Beijing had already set at its least ambitious level in decades. The print A 4.3% second-quarter reading is a miss by two measures.

It came in below consensus expectations. It also landed beneath the 4.5% floor of Beijing's stated full-year target range of 4.5% to 5%. That second miss carries more weight for the setup.

Missing a self-set government floor, one already calibrated lower than any goal Beijing had offered in decades, is a different signal than falling short of a market estimate.

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