china’s economy is going from bad to worse it grew just 08 in the three months ended june when compared with the preceding quarter according to chinas national statistics bureau that was less than half the 22 growth in the januarytomarch quarter and was below what most economists expected  the slowdown in economic growth gives further support to the idea that china’s emergence from its strict zerocovid policies is proving slow and painful  it came alongside an official data dump that painted a gloomy picture realestate investment in the first six months of 2023 shrank 79 from a year earlier that was a bigger drop than expected the property sector is a major contributor to chinas growth the youth unemployment rate hit a record high at 213 in june rising from 208 in may retail sales in june rose just 02 from may although they were up 31 from a year ago industrial output was a rare bright spot it expanded in june by 07 from a month ago compared to mays 06 increase on a yearago basis it rose 44 in june compared to mays 35