The accident waiting to happen has happened. China’s economy, having helped propel global growth for much of the past decade, is crumpling. Official data released on Wednesday removed any doubts. Foreigners are investing and buying less: November foreign direct investment fell by a third from a year earlier while exports fell 2.2 per cent, the first year-over-year decline since February 2002. With producer price inflation plunging to 2 per cent in November, less than one-third the October reading, deflation is possible.

China held out longer than most; much of the developed world is already in recession, after all, and a number of developing countries are teetering on the brink. Now that the brakes are coming on in China, however, a ripple effect is spreading as demand shrinks for oil, iron ore and all the other commodities required to industrialise the country. Australia is an early casualty. Within 24 hours of central bank chief Glenn Stevens flagging the China risk, Aussie miner Rio Tinto unveiled plans to slash 14,000 jobs.