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SHANGHAI — Dismal data from China and India on Friday may signal a further weakening of the global recovery, undermining hopes the dynamic emerging economies of Asia can help prop up growth.
China reported its industrial production rose 9.3 percent from a year earlier in April, below expectations and down from nearly 12 percent in March. Investment and retail sales also slowed, though easing inflation offers leeway for fresh moves to boost growth.
In a recent special issue of TIME, I argued that India would eventually overtake China as the world’s premier emerging market. It’s a prediction that often produces snickers. How, skeptics ask, can India’s fractious democracy and inept governance overcome the clinical efficiency of China’s tight-fisted state? But I have always stood by that conviction.
Sometime today, the G20 will be declared to have supplanted the G8 as the “permanent council for international economic cooperation.” Yay, G20! Having international economic confabs that didn’t include Brazil or India or China no longer made any sense. Then again, having a UN Security Council where France and the UK have veto power and [...]
