In October 2020, China won plaudits as the first major economy to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, reporting quarterly growth that was seen as an endorsement of Beijing’s zero-tolerance policy, or locking down cities and millions of people at the first sign of an outbreak.
How that narrative has shifted.
China’s so-called zero-Covid policy is now seen by some analysts as a disrupter of the world economy, rather than leading a recovery, and is generating uncertainty for all financial markets, including cryptocurrencies.
“China’s economy is clearly contracting sharply under the weight of zero COVID policies,” according to a May 31 report by U.S.-based think tank Rhodium Group, which specializes in research into the country’s economy, the world’s second biggest.
“Consensus expectations have not fully factored in the degree to which China’s economy is weakening this year, or the probability that slower growth…
