welcome to the show. i'm seeking beardsley in berlin. china's 0 coven policy has european companies. they're bracing for losses and reconsidering their investments . that's according to a new survey from the european chamber of commerce. more than a quarter of the 370 firms participating in the survey said they're thinking about pausing investments or moving them to other markets. that's double the number from 2 months ago. almost 60 percent of those questions projected lower revenues for the year. beijing's 0 coven policy has resulted in lockdown than the manufacturing hub of sion gen, as well as the world's largest port. shanghai is not just paging cobit policies is causing problems for the chinese economy. d, w. businesses, china analyst clifford conan. take a look at the challenges facing the world's 2nd biggest economy. supply chains are struggling to keep product moving. retail sales or falling restaurants and catering are suffering. industrial production is slowing. unemployment is on the rise. almost every metric suggest beijing's official forecast of 5.5 percent growth this

year is too optimistic. some analysts reckon the china will grow below 5 percent in 2022, a rate not seen since the fall at from the gentleman square massacre in 1989. she jim paying is expected to seal an unprecedented 3rd term as leader this fall. but his power push comes against the background of 3 major challenges to the economy. china's property market has been in crisis since last summer. that's when the financial troubles of china ever ground group sparked to sell off and a giant property companies, bonds, and other developers. property developments for accounts for around a quarter of china's economy. and china's top 100 developers monthly contracted sales volume fell for the 8 straight month in february, plunging almost by half compared to a year earlier. since the beginning of 2021, around a dozen chinese developers defaulted around $14000000000.00 worth of offshore and domestic bonds. the government is trying to sure of the damage, but the emphasis on housing for living rather than speculation means the heady days

of massive growth are likely over china's choice to stand with russia over its invasion of ukraine is putting serious strain on globalization. the u. s. warrens at beijing stance could result in secondary sanctions on chinese firms that could cause further problems for the tech sector, which is heavily reliant on western components. the most significant acute problem is the 0 covert issue by colleagues old song hahn in taipei has this for us. thanks, clifford. i'm 45 chinese cities are currently close, affecting 375000000 people were about a quarter of china's population for the global economy. the supply chain will be particularly har, hit by the lot downs. if we look at some, he has been closed for more than a month, although the number of cases has dropped significantly. the chinese economy is probably centered in big cities like sal hi, in about half of apple supplies are locates near some high sins and or quin san 2

chinese here. my indexes have been below 50 for 2 consecutive months indicating that the economy is in decline. chinese president sheet, he is now facing a dilemma on the one hand he wants to ensure stable economy growth, which is crucial for his on that am on anonymous reelection. this fall by the hand, his insistence on 0 covey policy is a key factor that stifles economic growth, which no one dares to openly oppose. tanks to its own, han anti pay for that. as we can see, 3 major challenges facing the world's 2nd largest economy. 3 major, major challenges. well, 45 chinese cities are currently under locked down. that's what we just heard from. so among them, the world's largest port shanghai. earlier today i had a chance to speak with your booker, he's president of the chamber of commerce in china. i asked him if there were signs that bay gene was ready to turn away from it's controversial lockdown policy. that's unfortunately no assigned. and again, maybe the pain has to get deeper in order for them to change. and the 2 walks of 0

tolerance. i mean, today we had the p. m i coming off of services. i see in this covering primarily the east coast as well as the private chinese enterprise in the service sector. and it was a dismal of 36.2 percent. so our survey and this kind of feedback indicates that economic damage is quite severe. the has to be a change, and all the members are requesting a change. we came up with recommendations. how to do this? do you believe that companies really are prepared to move their production, their investment elsewhere? if they don't see a change? i don't see your big companies actually moving out of china and moving them, say to bangkok or to ok, kale. and what we are trying to indicate is that our headquarters of putting additional investment into china on hold, meaning that reconsidering if there has to be more of their products and product production in china. and that doesn't mean it's moving out, is just not moving in. and meaning it's relocating to other locations, but again,

of course, that has a significant impact on employment as well as on high tech in china. so the danger for china is missing the train the china has said that expects to see 5 and a half percent growth this year. many analysts have looked at that and said that's not realistic. how do you see it? the 5.5 is all the windows no way. i mean we had a very good 1st quarter for 4.8 percent plus the money, right? but again, it all indications are that the economy, particularly of course, the dell just starting in the last week in march has been in free fall traffic is down transportation traffic down in shop by 80 percent across china, 70 percent, and even a province that has no lockdown whatsoever like one don't is down by 50 percent and that's not going to change. i mean, again, we are facing near lockdown conditions in beijing. that is of course, more service oriented economy is not really strong in manufacturing. but how is

that all going to end? i think 4 percent at best it is going to be achieved. and again, it's a long way to get there. all right, we'll leave it at that. your full co, he's president of the chamber of commerce in china. thank you very much. thank you . and now to some of the other global business stories making headlines. those locked down in china are adding to problems for german companies, industrial orders. they're slumped 4.7 percent in march compared to the previous month. that's according to the federal statistical office. uncertainty around russia's war and ukraine is one factor wing on producers. as are rising energy prices. backing the trend beams of you says its 1st quarter was boosted by its chinese operations. the german luxury car maker reported earning earnings up to 16 percent to 31000000000 euros. the company credited the strong increase to the consolidation of its chinese joint venture b, m. w brilliance,

automotive and high demand for its premium vehicles. rising ticket sales in the 1st quarter helped keep germany's flagship airline tanza in year, despite high fuel costs compared to the same period. last year. the airlines net losses fell by 40 percent using a just 580000000 euros. the company pledge to expand its offering in the coming quarters to reduce bosses further. volkswagen meanwhile, nearly doubled its 1st quarter net profits compared to the same period. last year. it also maintained its annual guidance groups. largest car maker raked in 6700000000 euros and the 1st 3 months of the year. it dodge the major hit from supply chain bottlenecks by providing factories in the u. s. and china with unused semiconductors from europe or global markets have generally welcome the decision by the u. s. federal reserve to raise its benchmark interest rate by just half

a percentage point in an effort to beat back record price increases. inflation in the u. s. is at a 40 year high, the rate hike is actually the largest single optic by the fed in more than 2 decades. and some investors fear the fed might do more. higher interest rates make borrowing more expensive, cutting into business profits and restraining growth. fed chairman jerome powell said yesterday, the cutting inflation was critical. the economy in the country have been through a lot over the past 2 years and approved resilient. it is essential that we bring inflation down if we are to have a sustained period of strong labor market conditions that benefit all more rate hikes are expected in the months ahead. but can monetary policy actually bring down us inflation that's been pushed up by stimulus policy? as well as energy costs. when we asked economists, chris for thornburg when he expects price to come down. he was quite candid. i never, i look, the increase in price is we're saying, of course is,

is largely driven by the $11.00 trillion dollars of stimulus. that the federal reserve and congress is thrown at the u. s. economy, candidly vastly more than the economy needed relative to the type of economic shock that the pandemic created. the result of that, of course, is, is rapidly rising. prices were at 8 and a half percent inflation year over year, and candidly, given the pent up demand in our economy right now take, for example, auto inventories that are basically 0. it's hard to see anything slowing down, given these relatively modest moves on the part of the fed. ergo, i don't think they're going to even come close to slowing inflation down a given this kind of policy. inflation is on the rise around the globe, not just in the u. s. and the fed is not the only central bank to tighten its policy. the bank of australia has now raised its main lending rate by a quarter of

a point that's its biggest rate hike in over a decade. in india. meanwhile, the r b i n d a central bank surprise markets by raising rates there to 4.4 percent . and without warning, or deli correspondence, her car to car has more the big move by the parade height had come up. now information has been the most pressing concern for india for months. now, both retail as well as relation have been on an upward predict to be in fact in placing a brief 7 percent last month. and the said that this was the thing that it was worried about. most the be able to talk about political pressures implying essentially the war and its impact on prices across the world. and india as well. now the most we did in back of the 3 hike is going to be for the average because the mit we're going to go up. but whether this would have an impact on the place or

not, that for me to be correspond shortcuts guy there in delhi, or back when it was called facebook, it changed the internet forever. now it's corporate parent. meta is going for the real world opening its 1st brick and mortar store. that again, mostly to draw you back into an entirely virtual reality. the $1500.00 square foot met us to work at the company's burlingame campus in california, opens this weekend. the features, the are headsets smart glasses and related items. all products, of course, could also be bought online. and here's a reminder of the top business stories were falling for us as our china 0 cove policy has european companies. they're bracing for losses and reconsidering their investments. that's according to a new survey from the e. u. chamber of commerce in china. more than a quarter of the 370 firms participating in the survey said they're thinking about pausing investments, or moving them to other markets. the federal reserve in the united states has

raised its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point. the biggest hike in 2 decades is meant to battle inflation just currently running at a 40 year high. that's it for me and the dw business team. you can find out more about these and other business stories online. check us out a d, w dot com slash business. we're also on youtube under the d. w. news channel. i'm stephen, beards in berlin. likes watching. with

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ah ah business dw slide from berlin. battle at the hours of star plant in mario poll, hundreds of civilians are believed to be true inside, but the hopes on our pins on a new russian promise for a cease fire. also coming up, for starters, they did not have a company campaign plan. they have under achieved a damning verdict from former u. s. general david to try us about proteins war in the state of the russian military and how the of war in ukraine is intensifying of food.