China’s economy expands at slowest pace since 2020
China’s economy grew at the slowest pace since the initial coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, a reflection of the damage the nation’s zero-Covid approach has had on growth and the challenge Beijing faces in meeting its full-year target. Gross domestic product increased 0.4 per cent from a year earlier, the worst performance since the first quarter of 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. Growth was far weaker than the 1.2 per cent gain in a Bloomberg survey of economists. On a quarterly basis, the economy contracted 2.6 per cent. China’s economy is paying the price for Beijing’s attempt to stamp out Covid cases, a strategy that’s becoming evermore difficult as more infectious virus variants emerge. On top of that, the property market remains in a deep slump. Economists say the government’s ambitious growth goal of about 5.5 per cent is out of reach, with GDP forecast to expand slightly more than 4 per cent this year. “The downward pressure on the economy has increased sig...