BEIJING, Dec 22 (Reuters) - China's economy grew by just 2.5% to 3% in 2025, the Rhodium Group think tank estimates, roughly half the pace implied by official data, driven by a collapse in fixed-asset investment in the $19 trillion economy over the second half of the year.
Policymakers are expected to announce that China met its full-year growth target of "around 5%" when top leaders gather in March for their annual parliamentary session and unveil the next five-year plan, touting robust exports in the face
of a tariff war with the U.S. and weak domestic demand.
But there will be around half a trillion dollars in lost demand unaccounted for, according to a report released by Rhodium Group on Monday.
China's National Bureau of Statistics did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If accurate, the shortfall could cloud Beijing's ability to gauge how urgently it must act to avert a severe slowdown across the world's second-largest economy, or assess its negotiating strength in talks with U.S. President Donald Trump to end a tariff war that has upended global supply chains.
In 2026, the Chinese economy is on course to grow between just 1% and 2.5% in 2026, Rhodium Group estimated, far below the IMF's forecast for the year of 4.5%.
"China's 2025 economic growth story turns on whether investment merely declined in the second half of the year or collapsed," the report said, citing an inconsistency in data showing a drop in fixed-asset investment but capital formulation seemingly still making a positive contribution to GDP.
"History offers no examples of economies that have recorded 5% real GDP growth while facing years of persistent deflation, as China has for 10 consecutive quarters. We doubt China is the first," the report added.
Fixed-asset investment in everything from roads and rail to housing and factories, started 2025 strong, rising 4.2% year-on-year in the first quarter, but had slipped into negative territory by June and had plunged as much as 12.2% by October.
Officials said gross capital formulation, the investment component of GDP, still contributed 0.9 percentage points to real growth during the third quarter, but the Rhodium report questions whether metrics such as falling land sales and second-hand equipment purchases were properly accounted for.
Fixed-asset investment fell 2.6% in the January-November period, the most recent official data shows, driven by a 15.9% drop in property investment.
"The miscalculation for China's economy has been persistent for too long," the think tank said, "and always in the same direction of overstatement."
(Reporting by Joe Cash; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
