Overview
- China’s official data released Wednesday show GDP expanded 4.3% year‑on‑year in Q2 2026 and 0.9% quarter‑on‑quarter, marking the slowest pace in over three years.
- Analysts and statistics cited weak household consumption and a prolonged property‑sector correction as the main drivers of the slowdown, prompting Beijing to signal policies to try to boost household spending.
- Chinese exports remained strong, rising 17.6% in the first half of 2026 and 27% in June, driven by demand for high‑tech goods such as AI‑related chips and electric vehicles and partially offsetting domestic weakness.
- Peru’s May GDP slowed to 1.8% after anchoveta catches fell sharply because of El Niño‑linked warm seas; the fishing sector plunged 73.1%, Produce suspended the northern anchoveta season, and primary manufacturing dropped 41.7%, costing processing plants and local jobs.
- Argentina’s industry used 58.4% of installed capacity in May, with big divergences across sectors as oil refining ran at 88.7% while metalworking and the auto industry operated well below capacity, leaving more than 40% of national industrial capacity idle and constraining recovery.