China’s slowing down – just don’t tell the Chinese government.

According to official numbers, for the last three quarters the Chinese economy has expanded at the exact same rate: 6.7%. That also happens to be exactly the target rate the government had forecast.

Nobody believes these figures.

The Chinese government publishes them, in part, to signal their intentions to deliver on growth targets, despite widespread belief that economy is slowing fast. But private and state-owned Chines companies are on an international buying spree, suggesting even the Chinese believe the real opportunities for growth lie outside the People’s Republic, rather than inside it.