24 June 2009 at 12:46 GMT
The essay marks a significant change from China's usual reporting of year-on-year growth and is a step towards regular quarter-on-quarter reporting promised for 2010.
According to the WSJ
"Fourth-quarter GDP expanded at an annualized rate of 2.1%. Guo cited what he called a preliminary estimate that fourth quarter GDP grew 0.1% from the previous quarter, equivalent to an annualized rate of just 0.4%.
"The headline year-on-year growth rate announced at the time, by comparison, was 6.8% — a gap that clearly shows how quarterly and annual growth rates can give very different pictures of economic turning points."
It also puts China GDP close to the 0% growth as forecast by Saxo Bank's strategy team in their 'Outrageous Predictions' for 2009. For the fourth quarter of 2008 at least.
And predictions of Chinese GDP rising over the year are exaggerated we believe.
Another sign that the Chinese economy isn't immune to picking up Western spending habits is news from Marketwatch that consumers are falling behind with credit card payments in incrasing numbers.
"China's credit-card debt at least six months overdue rose 133% in the first quarter, though the total overdue debt was still at the relatively modest level of 4.97 billion yuan ($727.7 million), the People's Bank of China was reported as saying in a state-run media report."