China's growth based on coal and debt

<p>Kia ora,</p><p>Welcome to Monday's Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect New Zealand.</p><p>I'm David Chaston and this is the International edition from Interest.co.nz.</p><p>Today we lead with news the bitcoin price is tanking sharply today, losing all of April's big gains.</p><p>But first, China has turned in the expected 'very good' economic data anticipated by analysts. The Q1-2021 <a href="http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/zxfb/202104/t20210416_1816307.html" target="_blank"><strong>GDP rose +18%</strong></a> above their pandemic affected Q1-2020 levels. Their <a href="http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/zxfb/202104/t20210416_1816310.html" target="_blank"><strong>fixed asset investment</strong></a> levels were even higher on that basis (+25%) and also as anticipated. However, <a href="http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/zxfb/202104/t20210416_1816308.html" target="_blank"><strong>industrial production</strong></a> there undershot expectations at +14%.</p><p>Some analysts are <a href="https://d321bl9io865gk.cloudfront.net/view?src=https%3A%2F%2Fanz-singletrack.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com%2FChina_s_GDP_growth_data_accuracy_warrants_caution.pdf%3FX-Amz-Algorithm%3DAWS4-HMAC-SHA256%26X-Amz-Credential%3DAKIAZGZPZQBPX2SV22UN%2F20210416%2Fap-southeast-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request%26X-Amz-Date%3D20210416T000000Z%26X-Amz-Expires%3D86400%26X-Amz-Signature%3Db2eb639b298e29146716c0db8b7ddfee30bd1a33dffeba9adb1ce226f9d8dbf6%26X-Amz-SignedHeaders%3Dhost&data=pwiwbEBS61CODwVrSEgQG7iBtp35r7pmXRC6mB5nRZvmcsraviyhmJwj4CR3e1q6Ca15l0A7Y9AdPjAh%2B4nmvmGeNv2jUGHnCEgNfCPCwlAGwegxZ4mF1RTikC7GN%2B%2F2&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fpublications.anz.com%2F&namespaced=true&aid=a0N4a000001VDqrEAG&perms=copy-paste;download;print;rate;related-research&perms_sign=fiH%2FOODCJ%2BzvojDKm4JG0RVy81sAgks620hidnVdj8Gu1N%2FSwAASBfq12hhHe%2FQqJstDn1aw72n7Nr7KekCbB%2FO5ChP3l3D2waoN8UxO%2FccaksomDtusws9%2Bu5kHjLtaXgY9q%2FHNmwY0FcqPkhpnUEd6ElR3f7Dj53IqnhtDV50%3D&timestamp=1618550006&rating_opts=%7b%22ratingValue%22:%220%22,%22ratingType%22:%22s