China pledges more help for its ailing property market, as IMF forecasts economy will slow

BANGKOK — Markets in China sank Friday despite a fresh flurry of measures to help prop up the ailing property sector, as the International Monetary Fund forecast that the Chinese economy will continue to slow in coming years.

The report by the IMF forecast that the economy would expand at a 4.6% annual pace this year, down from 5.2% in 2023. It put growth in 2028 at 3.4%. It noted that housing starts had fallen more than 60% from pre-pandemic levels after a crackdown on excessive borrowing that began in 2020.

That’s a pace “only seen in the largest housing busts in cross-country experience in the last three decades,” it said.

Shanghai’s benchmark composite index lost 1.5%, dipping sharply at one point before regaining some losses but still logging its worst week in five years. The smaller market in Shenzhen lost 3%.

The moves to increase the supply of affordable housing and spur…