Government figures released last week show the world’s largest economy grew more than expected in the second quarter, buoyed by U.S. consumer spending, while China posted lower growth amid persistent headwinds.
The gap between the top two economies widened again last year, according to World Bank data. China was once widely expected to exceed the size of the U.S. economy by 2030, but performances in recent years have called this into question amid a property sector crunch, sagging demand, and massive debts accrued by local governments. China‘s GDP was just two-thirds of the U.S. figure, down from 70 percent in 2022 and 76 percent in 2021.
Meanwhile, the U.S. economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the second quarter of 2024, according to advance estimates released by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) last week. This exceeded the 2.1-percent forecast of economists polled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia in May.