Official Chinese growth figures dismissed as ‘fantasy’

China is growing only half as fast as official data shows, according to foreign investors and analysts who challenge how the world’s second largest economy can be measured so swiftly.

Beijing reported last month that China’s economy increased a steady 7% in the first two quarters of the year, spot on its official 2015 target.

That statistical stability comes at a time when prices of commodities have cratered. However, perhaps the biggest question is how a developing country of 1.4bn people can publish its quarterly GDP statistics weeks before first drafts from developed economies.