China Budget Deficit Nears Record $1 Trillion Amid Slowdown

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China’s broad fiscal deficit hit an all-time high in the first nine months of the year as Covid outbreaks and a housing market slump continue to erode government income.

The deficit in the budgets for all levels of government was 7.16 trillion yuan ($980 billion), according to Bloomberg calculations based on data released by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday.

That is a record for any comparable period and is almost three times the 2.6 trillion yuan shortfall in January-September last year.

Economic growth rebounded to 3.9 per cent in the third quarter, after the lockdown of Shanghai and other cities earlier in the year pushed GDP to near stagnation in the second quarter.

The pickup was fueled by increasing investment in infrastructure, though retail sales weakened and unemployment increased.

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