The good news first: China’s trade surplus rose to $59.5 billion in May from $34.1 billion in April.
The bad news, it comes entirely from a drop in imports (-17.6 percent compared to a year ago), which means the Chinese economy is grinding to a complete standstill.
“Our estimate suggests that quarterly annualized growth averaged 6 percent just this decade, below 5 percent for 2014. For the first quarter, we calculate a contraction. Real domestic demand collapsed by nearly 8 percent annualized compared to the last quarter of 2014,” said Diana Choyleva of Lombard Street Research.
