E-Paper
China’s economy contracts for first time in decades
China’s gross domestic product stood at 20.65 trillion yuan (about $ 2.91 trillion) in the first quarter of 2020, down 6.8% year on year, data from the national bureau of statistics (NBS) showed Friday.
China’s economy shrank by 6.8% in the first quarter of 2020, government data showed on Friday, confirming the damage done to the second largest economy in the world by the coronavirus pandemic. China’s gross domestic product stood at 20.65 trillion yuan (about $ 2.91 trillion) in the first quarter of 2020, down 6.8% year on year, data from the national bureau of statistics (NBS) showed Friday.
Reports said it was the first time that the Chinese economy had contracted since the Cultural Revolution, which ended in 1976.
State media reports said the 6.8% contraction translated to an economic loss of about 1.44 trillion yuan ($203.4 billion), which is equivalent to the GDP of New Zealand. The coronavirus first emerged China late last year, forcing the government to opt for an extensive countrywide shutdown of factories and businesses to contain the spread of the pathogen. The Communist Party of China (CPC)-ruled government has restarted manufacturing across provinces but the raging pandemic has severely disrupted the supply chain in the first three months, impacting demand globally.
The impact of the pandemic on China’s foreign trade is expected to show in the second quarter with demand for goods from China – the world’s manufacturing hub – expected to plummet across the world.
The pandemic has infected more than 2 million globally and killed more than 130,000; China has reported more than 4000 deaths although new infections have dropped significantly from their peak in February.
“A breakdown of the data showed output of the service sector, which accounted for nearly 60% of the total GDP, dropped by 5.2%, while primary industry and the secondary industry saw a decline of 3.2% and 9.6%, respectively,” official news agency, Xinhua, said in a report.
