China 26Q2 GDP Growth Slows to 4.3% vs. 4.5% expected, Firmer PBoC Fix

China's economy expanded 4.3%, measured on a yearly basis, in the second quarter of 2026, compared to a 5.0% growth in Q1, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. The market predicted a firmer print of 4.5% growth. On a quarterly basis, the Chinese GDP grew 0.9% in Q2 after a 1.3% rise in the previous quarter, and annual Retail Sales rose by 1.0% in June versus an expected -0.1% and a prior -0.6%. Prior to the market opening, the People's Bank of China set the yuan's central parity rate at 6.7910 per US dollar on Wednesday. Comparatively, today's fixing came 80 pips firmer than Tuesday's fixing of 6.7990 but 215 pips weaker than the Reuters estimate of 6.7695. At the time of writing, onshore yuan flatlined to 6.7696 against the dollar, and its offshore counterpart inched up 0.02% to 6.77234 in the late Asian session. The spot yuan is allowed to trade at a maximum of 2% on either side of the fixed midpoint each day. The PBoC fixes matters for the US dollar because China manages the yuan against many currencies, but the dollar sits in the middle of most currency pricing. So any change in yuan management can also affect G20/USD pairs globally. The China Foreign.