we begin in china where we ve just had a slew of data that shows how deep the impact of both the pandemic and its demographics is having on society and the economy. data from the national bureau of statistics shows china s economy grew by 2.9% year on year for the last three months of 2022. that beat expectations reuters expected the economy to grow byjust1.8%. for the full year growth came in at 3% far below china s official target of 5.5%. excluding the year covid hit in 2020, this is china s worst showing in nearly 50 years. also today, the news that china s population has shrunk for the first time in more than 60 years a change that is expected to have deep economic, social and political implications for china. for more on that let s go to katie silver in our asia business hub. tell us more. that s right. the bi . tell us more. that s right. the big figure tell us more. that s right. the big figure that tell us more. that s right. the big figure that we ve tel
time now to get down to business. let s start here in the uk where prime minister liz truss has been announcing her new cabinet. she has been busy into the late hours. she s decided to give kwasi kwarteng the second most powerful role in downing street after appointing him as new chancellor of the exchequer. mr kwarteng has a tough job on his hands and takes over at a critical time for the uk economy with millions looking to him for help with soaring winter energy bills. so, what about the man himself? he attended the exclusive private school eton college and went on to graduate with a double first from cambridge university in classics and history. kwarteng then went on to work as a columnist for the daily telegraph and a financial analyst at banks, includingjp morgan. more recently, he was appointed as business secretary in 2021, replacing alok sharma in the borisjohnson government. that is a short synopsis. joining me now is fiona cincotta from city index. nice to see you.
welcome, here s what you need to know in business this hour. and we start with brexit. the uk prime minister borisjohnson is set to visit northern ireland later in a bid to restore its government. less than two weeks after the election, the democratic unionist party has blocked efforts to restore northern ireland s assembly, by refusing to elect a speaker. it s objecting to the so called northern ireland protocol the trading arrangement set up after brexit to keep northern ireland aligned with eu trade rules. the party says that creates a trade border in the irish sea and that puts it at an economic disadvantage. it says it wants to send a message to westminster and brussels that reform of the arrangement is necessary. but the uk business secretary kwasi kwarteng has told the bbc the government isn t looking for a trade war with the eu. we think it would be completely self defeating if they went into a trade war but it is up to them. what i am concerned about is political s
economy going forward.- economy going forward. thank ou so economy going forward. thank you so much. economy going forward. thank you so much, katie. joining me now isjinny yan, chief china economist at icbc standard bank. cheers. good to talk to you. what do cheers. good to talk to you. what do you cheers. good to talk to you. what do you make - cheers. good to talk to you. what do you make then - cheers. good to talk to you. what do you make then of. cheers. good to talk to you. l what do you make then of the news about the demographics to begin with, as katie outlined? going forward this is not good news, is it, for china in terms of future growth? i news, is it, for china in terms of future growth? of future growth? i think this has been of future growth? i think this has been much of future growth? i think this has been much predicted. i has been much predicted. however, the reality is there s negative growth in population and it will question how much china can conti
much better, growing by only 0.3% in august. both sets of numbers were much lower than many analysts were expecting, with numerous lockdowns having an effect on the economy. joining me now isjinny yan, who is the chief china economist at icbc standard bank. how much is weaking global demand hitting nice to see you. how concerned should we be about august s numbers? i should we be about august s numbers? numbers? i think the wider icture numbers? i think the wider picture is numbers? i think the wider picture is that numbers? i think the wider picture is that china s - picture is that china s recovery is not as strong as perhaps many would anticipate given that so much stimulus policies have already been announced, and of course i think we have been quite used to a very strong growth in terms of exports. last year was lifted china out of that covid, initial covid hit was indeed the resilience of net exports, and that has contributed