Array
China’s leaders admitted the country’s economy was facing “new situations and problems” on Thursday but people on the streets of financial powerhouse Shanghai suggested that not everyone is being hit equally.
China has struggled with high youth unemployment, falling consumption, and a property sector crisis in recent years, all of which threaten the government’s goal of five percent growth this year.
Chang Guiyong, proprietor of a hole-in-the-wall eatery in central Shanghai, is part of a group of lower-income citizens and small business owners who have borne the brunt of falling domestic demand.
“Doing business is even tougher this year than it was during the pandemic,” Chang, 58, told Agence France-Presse as he stood in his empty shop.
“People no longer want to consume, even white-collar workers are bringing lunchboxes to eat at the office.”
“We regularly face pressure, we have to pay rent for the shop, rent a place to stay, and there’s the cost of ingredients, water, electricity and gas,” he said.
