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African Countries At Risk From China’s Economic Deceleration

by Eric Olander
Exterior of the Evergrande Center in Shanghai. The property developer imploded and contributed to China's slowing economy in the third quarter of the year. Hector RETAMAL / AFP

The South African rand has long served as a sort of early warning system for investors to gauge the impact of Chinese economic news. And yesterday, the alarms sounded as the value of the South African currency fell 1.1% in response to worse-than-expected third-quarter data that revealed the Chinese economy slowed to its slowest pace in a year.

The economy grew just 4.9% in three month period between July and September, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, down sharply from the nearly 8% growth rate in the second quarter. Industrial production, a key data point for Africa’s commodity-exporting countries, was flat with just 0.1% growth.

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