Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its economic growth forecast for China for this year to 4% as the government doubles down on a Covid Zero policy that’s forced major cities like Shanghai into lockdown for several weeks. The investment bank lowered its projection for gross domestic product growth from 4.5% previously, and also cut the second-quarter estimate to 1.5% year-on-year from an earlier prediction of 4%. Full-year growth is based on the assumption that Covid will remain mostly under control, that the property market improves and the government boosts infrastructure spending, Goldman’s economists including Hui Shan wrote in a note. For the government to get anywhere close to its target of around 5.5%, “it is imperative to keep Covid under control and avoid hard lockdowns of major economic centers like Shanghai going forward,” the economists said. Provinces that were hit by Covid this spring “underperformed notably,” they said, citing […]