China tops forecasts with 8.1% growth in 2021 but headwinds loom

China’s economy rebounded in 2021 with its best growth in a decade, helped by robust exports, but there are signs that momentum is slowing on weakening consumption and a property downturn.

Growth in the fourth quarter hit a one-and-a-half-year low, government data showed on Monday shortly after the central bank moved to prop up the economy with a cut to a key lending rate for the first time since early 2020.

The world’s second-largest economy is struggling with a rapidly cooling property sector, as well as sporadic small-scale Covid-19 outbreaks.

The economy grew 8.1 per cent last year – its best expansion since