No global economic crisis yet, but the ingredients are there

The days when one country's economic woes could be insulated from the wider world have long gone. China's problems could have a fearsome domino effect

Another day, another financial spasm. In London, New York, Shanghai and Frankfurt the story was the same: shares dumped and the oil price crashing to its lowest level since 2003 on fears that the China is heading into a recession that will drag the rest of the world economy down with it.

Despite the fresh sell-off in financial markets on Wednesday, this is far from a done deal. For the doomsday scenario to materialise, China would need to have a hard landing, rather than simply a bumpy one, the rest of the world would have to be ripe for its own crisis, and there would need to be a transmission mechanism for delivering a problem centred on east Asia to the rest of the global economy.

Related: Beware the great 2016 financial crisis, warns leading City pessimist

Related: China economy grows at slowest pace in 25 years, latest GDP figures show