China said Monday it will delay the release of economic growth figures, as the country’s leadership gathers for a meeting set to hand President Xi Jinping a historic third term in office.
The announcement comes a day before China had been expected by analysts to announce some of its weakest quarterly growth figures since 2020, as the economy is hobbled by Covid-19 restrictions and a real estate crisis.
Beijing’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced that the release of growth figures for the third quarter along with a host of other economic data would be “postponed”, without specifying a reason for the delay or giving a new timeline.
The postponement comes as officials from China’s ruling Communist Party gather in Beijing for their 20th Congress, which is set to rubber stamp Xi’s bid to rule for another term.