China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) shrank in September for the first time since February 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic first hit the country. Power shortages and new, sporadic Covid-19 outbreaks are being blamed for the reversal, raising the likelihood of new supply chain problems. Economists are predicting a further slowdown in China’s economic growth for this year, down to a rate of between 7.7 and 7.8 percent. In June, the World Bank had predicted an increase of 8.5 percent in China’s GDP, assuming the continued suppression of the Covid-19 epidemic.

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