The Chinese economy grew more slowly than expected in July. The worst corona outbreak in a year due to the delta variant, severe floods, a weaker real estate market and lower car sales have put the People’s Republic under pressure. As the statistics office reported, retail sales rose 8.5 percent in July. In June the increase was 12.1 percent. The increase in industrial production, at 6.4 percent, was also below the previous month’s figure of 8.3 percent. Analysts at Australia and New Zealand Banking Corporation (ANZ) lowered their expectations for China’s growth this year from 8.8 to 8.3 percent. “The July data suggests the economy is losing steam very quickly,” said ANZ economist Raymond Yeung.