Last 12 months Xi Jinping, China’s president, paid a go to to Heilongjiang within the nation’s north-east. This province, a part of the economic rustbelt, exemplifies the issues besetting China’s financial system. Its birth rate is the bottom within the nation. House prices in its greatest metropolis are falling. The province’s GDP grew by solely 2.6% in 2023. Worse, its nominal GDP, earlier than adjusting for inflation, barely grew in any respect, suggesting it’s within the grip of deep deflation.