China’s Policymakers Are Facing a Few Constrains: S&P Says Bloomberg News Six months after China’s government set ambitious economic targets for the year, growth has slowed so sharply that several major banks don’t even think 3% is achievable anymore. Growth projections have come down steadily since March, when the official target of around 5.5% was first disclosed. The consensus in a Bloomberg survey is for the economy to expand 3.5% this year, which would be the second-weakest annual reading in more than four decades. Forecasters at Morgan Stanley and Barclays Plc are among those predicting even slower growth as risks mount into year-end. It’s not just China’s strict Covid Zero policy of lockdowns and mass testing that’s buffeting the economy. A housing market collapse, drought, and weak demand both at home and overseas have all undercut growth. Jian Chang, Barclays’s chief China economist, last week cut her full-year growth […]